A Year in the Life of Rose Weasley
by thetimeladyswan
Summary: Join our favourite Weasley as she realises that her sweet sixteenth year of life isn't going to be quite a straightforward as she'd hoped. Full Summary Inside. Please R&R!
1. Prologue

Summary:

Rose could be described - to some extent - as a typical Hogwarts student. She was a Gryffindor, Prefect, Chaser, one of the brightest in her year and a registered Animagus (taking the form of a red vixen).

Life has thrown some things at her, but with the tight bonds of her friends and family, she's made it through. Little did she know that this year her life will change completely, and things will never be the same again.

Join our favourite Weasley as she realises that her sweet sixteenth year of life isn't going to be quite a straightforward as she'd hoped.

* * *

_So I'm doing a prologue on how the quartet featured in this story first met, where they were sorted and how they all became friends. Set after the Deathly Hallows epilogue._

* * *

Rose glanced over at her cousin. Albus was sitting in the corner of the compartment, staring absently out of the window. Rose had long since given up on trying to get him to speak, but it didn't mean that she wasn't worried - quite the contrary.

She had tried to read her favourite Muggle novel, but in the end just shut it and sat worrying about her cousin and what house she would be sorted in. The book lay in her lap. Anyone who looked at it could tell that it was read the most out of all of Rose's books, as the spine was bent and the front cover bearing sings of dried teardrops. Rose could usually sit reading it for hours, and the walls around her could come crashing down and the young girl would not have passed any heed. Today, however, was different.

Rose had always hoped to be in Gryffindor, a hope that had increased as every family member before her had been sorted into said house. Also - even though she knew that her father was joking - she did not want to be disowned. She supposed there was also the chance of her being sorted into Ravenclaw. If this was so, she hoped that nobody would mind. Her father _had _said "thank God you inherited your mother's brains" so that must mean that he was proud, right?

The sound of the compartment door being slid open dragged Rose from her musing. She looked towards the door expectantly. A girl - another first year - stood in the doorway. She had a nervous air about her. There was a polite, shy smile on her rather round face, and her long blonde hair, which was a shade lighter than honey-blonde, fell across her face, she turned her glasz eyes on Rose and spoke softly.

"Hi. I'm Alice Longbottom. I think everywhere else is full, so ..."

She trailed off. Rose, understanding, patted the seat beside her with a smile.

"Thanks," said Alice gratefully, now struggling to get her trunk into the luggage rack. Rose tried to help her, but couldn't manage it. This was when Albus finally unglued his eyes from the compartment window and went to help the two struggling girls. He smiled at them, almost as shyly as Alice had.

The three of them sat down.

"I'm Rose," Rose told Alice. "And this is my cousin-"

Albus took over. "Albus. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," said Alice shyly, her cheeks tingeing a little pink, most likely because she was in the presence of Harry Potter's son and niece.

"Our parents knew each other, didn't they?" Rose asked, trying to break the ice a little more.

Alice's flush suddenly turned to one of pride as she told them about how her father had killed Nagini. Rose knew this story already. She smiled a little at the other girl, and then turned her eyes to Albus. Her cousin was once again staring out of the window.

"Are you ok?" she asked him quietly.

"Fine," he said, then he turned to face her. "Just a little nervous about the sorting."

His unconvincing smile told Rose that this wasn't the whole truth, but she dropped the subject.

Alice finished telling them about her father's beheading of Voldemort's snake as the compartment door slid open again.

Rose recognised the boy standing in the doorway immediately. He stood taller than the three sitting in the compartment, his face was slightly pointed, and his smile was fearful and nervous.

"What do _you_ want?" said Albus, with hatred Rose had never thought him capable. Rose was willing to give the boy a chance, as her mother had said, "don't turn them against each other before they've even started school!" but then she realised that Albus and Scorpius had been turned against each other since before they were born. Rose felt immensely proud of her mother for encouraging her to give Scorpius a chance, after what Lucius had done to the family …

"Everywhere else was full," said Scorpius. His voice was soft, polite and completely empty of coldness and all other things normally present in Malfoys' voices. "I'm not supposed to even talk to any of you … but if I could sit here you'd be helping me out a lot.

Rose, ready to tell the boy no and to get out, suddenly met his eyes and felt short of breath. It was a complete shock. His eyes were a perfect blend of grey and blue, and, like his voice, were not cold. Rose had been unfortunate enough to have looked into both Lucius and Draco Malfoys' eyes. They were both identical, a stone cold grey. Scorpius's eyes, however, were different, and it was that that startled her.

She forced a smile. "We don't mind."

Scorpius smiled gratefully, putting his trunk in the luggage rack and sitting beside Rose. He kept his eyes averted from Albus, who was glaring pointedly at him, and addressed Rose instead.

"I know who you two are, of course," he said, with a small, rather nervous chuckle. "But … are you a Longbottom? You have that sort of face …"

"Yeah," said Alice, with a small smile. "I'm Alice Longbottom."

Scorpius nodded. Nobody mentioned the fact that his great aunt had tortured Alice's grandparents into insanity. Rose was glad that Albus didn't.

After a few moments of silence, the witch pushing the trolley appeared. Rose, Alice and Scorpius bought food to share, and Albus took a few Chocolate Frogs, a Pumpkin Pasty and a Cauldron Cake to himself in silence, without looking at any of them.

Rose, Alice and Scorpius told each other more about themselves, and traded Chocolate Frog cards. Such fun she was having that Rose nearly forgot about her cousin, sitting moodily in silence as far away from the other three as possible.

Rose looked through all the Chocolate Frog cards that they had accumulated together as the other three changed into their robes. Darkness had fallen, and, as they drew close to Hogsmeade Station, even Albus forgot, in his excitement, that he was supposed to be shooting pointed glares at Scorpius every few minutes.

They scrambled out of the train eagerly, Alice tripping over her robes. Rose helped the other girl up and the four of them (much to Albus's disgust) headed towards the huge figure of Hagrid, who was calling "Firs' years, over here! All firs' years to me! Firs' years …"

"Hello Albus," he said, as the four of them stopped in front of him. "And Rosie. Made friend's already?"

Rose smiled and nodded. "This is Alice Longbottom and Scorpius Malfoy."

Albus made a noise as she said Scorpius's name. She glared at her cousin.

"Knew all of yer parents, o' course," said Hagrid. "All good people -" he leaned towards Scorpius and dropped his voice. "-whatever people might say."

Scorpius smiled at the half-giant and followed the other three to one of the boats. Their fellow first years were just as excited as they were. One of the Muggleborn girls, who had strawberry blonde hair, was terrified that she would fall into the lake, as Dennis Creevey had done in his first year.

The fleet of boats set off across the Black Lake. Rose stared intently towards where she would see Hogwarts. There was a collective gasp from the first years. Hogwarts was more amazing than James could ever have described it. It was set on a cliff, and Rose reflected on how much it had survived. It was the most beautiful building she had ever seen.

The boats hit the edge of the lake with a thud, and the first years nearly fell into the water in their eagerness to get out.

Rose smiled as she climbed out of her boat first, helping the others. They followed Hagrid to the Entrance Hall.

"The firs' years, Professor" said Hagrid to Professor Longbottom, who was waiting for them. Alice looked everywhere but her father as he replied, "Thanks, Hagrid."

Professor Longbottom explained to them about the four houses and the tradition of Hogwarts. Rose wasn't really listening, and neither were any of the others. She already knew plenty about Hogwarts.

They were left standing in the Entrance Hall, and the ghosts arrived. A few of them commented on how much Albus looked like his father, or which house they hoped they'd be in. The ghosts drifted through the door just as it opened.

"Follow me," said Professor Longbottom with a smile.

They obeyed, forming a line behind him. The students already in the Great Hall looked around at the first years filing in.

Rose looked around at them all. Victoire caught her eye and beamed.

The first years stood nervously, waiting for the hat to start singing. Rose heard the first couple of lines before being overcome by nervousness and not paying ay attention anymore. When the applause rang out, she joined it a second late.

Professor Longbottom took out the list and started calling the first years' names.

"Byrne, William" became the first Ravenclaw. He walked over to the applauding table, sitting beside a girl with the same ginger hair; probably his sister.

The nervous group of first years became smaller. Rose felt like her insides were in knots.

"Longbottom, Alice"

Rose shot her friend a reassuring smile. Alice exchanged a look with her father before sitting on the stool. The hat stayed on her head for five seconds before deciding, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Another two students were sorted, then;

"Malfoy, Scorpius"

Scorpius, looking as nervous as Rose felt, sat on the stool. The hat was placed on his head. It took a whole minute to decide, before shouting, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat's shout rang in the silence. Nobody clapped; nobody made a sound. It was becoming unbearable.

Then, finally, the Gryffindor table began to clap, starting with Alice. Scorpius got up and sat beside her. They smiled at each other.

Everything returned back to normal then.

"Potter, Albus."

Albus looked worse than Scorpius had. Rose felt her worry for her cousin return, mixed with the nervousness and loneliness; for she was now standing alone.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Albus looked as if he was positively glowing with happiness. He walked towards the Gryffindor table as fast as he possibly could, and sat on the other side of Alice, pointedly ignoring Albus. James, who was sitting close by, cuffed him on the shoulder.

There was one more student sorted until Rose's name was called.

"Weasley, Rose"

She sat on the three-legged stool and the hat was placed on her head.

The muttering in her ear began at once; "_Hmm … we have another Weasley … most of you can be sorted into Gryffindor straight away, but you're like you're mother aren't you? Great brain, and great courage …. Gryffindor or Ravenclaw? Hmm …. better be GRYFFINDOR!"_

Rose nearly skipped to the Gryffindor table, sitting in between Alice and Scorpius to put more distance between the two boys. The sorting finished with "Zeller, Lucy" who became a Hufflepuff, the hat and stool were taken away, and Professor McGonagall stood up to greet them.

There was a collective gasp from the Muggleborn first years as the food appeared. The girl with strawberry-blonde hair that had been afraid of falling into the black lake, who was sitting across from Rose, looked awed, still drinking the Great Hall in and trying to come to terms with the fact that food had just appeared out of nowhere.

Albus, who most unfortunately took after Rose's father when it came to food, wasted no time in digging in, and his mouth was soon full to bursting.

Rose ate her food more delicately, savouring the flavours. The house elves were good at cooking; there was no denying it.

Alice arranged her food perfectly on the plate before popping it into her mouth. She had a smile on her face, and started chatting animatedly to the girl with strawberry-blonde hair across from them, who it transpired was called Amy.

Scorpius, however, did not eat much at all. He was playing with his food, and looking a mixture of pleased and fearful. When Rose asked him what was wrong, he said in a low voice, "Don't think Dad's going to be too happy about this."

He indicated the table he was sitting at and Rose understood. She grimaced and then returned to her food, shooting glances at the taller boy every minute or so.

If he was lucky enough to have parents who loved him just as much as Rose's loved her; he'd be fine.

* * *

The five Gryffindor first year girls stayed up for a half hour, talking. They got along well. Rose liked the other three girls; twins, Aisha and Samantha Thomas, and Amy Thompson, the same girl Alice had been talking to.

When they had finally succumbed to tiredness, they'd climbed into their respective four poster beds and fallen asleep almost instantly.

The first day dawned unusually sunny for September, and Rose and Alice walked down to breakfast to find Albus and Scorpius already there. Albus was sitting beside his brother and Scorpius sat a way away, chewing toast mechanically. Rose and Alice sat on either side of Scorpius.

"Morning," he said, with a slight smile.

"Morning," Rose and Alice echoed, a fraction of a second after each other.

They ate in silence after that. When the post arrived, Rose found that her owl, Angel, had brought a letter for her. It was from her mother.

_Rose,_

_Congratulations to you and Albus on getting into Gryffindor; everybody's so proud. We were surprised when we heard that Draco Malfoy's son was sorted into Gryffindor too. I know your father would have some difficulty if you were to become friends, but we don't mind. It's not like you can completely avoid him when you're in the same year and house._

_Look out for Albus will you? I know you're usually very close anyway, but we don't want James to get to him, do we?_

_Your father and Hugo send their love,_

_Mum_

Rose folded her letter and put it in one of her textbooks. Then she looked over to Scorpius, who had also gotten a letter; a letter in an angry red envelope; a howler.

Scorpius's hands were trembling as he opened it, and Draco Malfoy's voice echoed around the Great Hall, telling Scorpius that he had brought shame on the Malfoys and was lucky not to be disowned. Then a much kinder, softer and feminine voice said, "_Don't worry about your father, dear. He's just a little shocked. We'll see you at Christmas …_"

It was too late to console Scorpius, however. He looked on the verge of tears.

"Why don't you change to Slytherin?" said Albus suddenly, in the same cold, sneering voice full of hatred as the previous day. "It'd do everyone a favour."

Then Scorpius succumbed to the tears that had obviously been building up. Rose sent an icy glare at her cousin, tugged at Alice's sleeve to get her to follow suit, and followed Scorpius out of the Great Hall.

"I can't _believe _him!" she fumed, as she and Alice walked along the hallway.

"D'you think Scorpius is all right?" Alice asked, in a quite low, scared tone.

"I suppose he'll be ok," Rose murmured. "It's not the worst howler I've heard …"

The two girls checked in every room that they passed, and finally found their friend in the empty Charms classroom, sitting on one of the desks, his head hung low.

He looked up at the sound of the door clicking shut. His face was stained with them, though it seemed that the tears no longer seeped down his cheeks.

The two girls sat next to him. Rose fished a handkerchief out of her pocket and passed it over to Scorpius. He took it.

"Don't mind Albus," said Alice. "He's just being …"

She trailed off, unable to think of a word that described what Albus was being.

"Like James," Rose supplied grimly. It was true; James was the one who would ridicule someone over their family, not Albus.

Alice nodded. Even if she had only met James once; she had heard plenty to know what he was like; the perfect namesake for his grandfather.

"Thanks," Scorpius muttered, after a moment's silence. "You guys are great."

"Any time," said Alice, with a smile.

"Your welcome, Scorpius," Rose added.

"Call me Scorp," he said, stowing the handkerchief in his pocket. "Scorpius is too long - and terrible."

"You sound like Al," said Rose. Albus hated being called Albus, and thought that Albus Severus was the worst name one could have. "His full name is Albus Severus Potter. How weird does that sound?"

"Mine's Scorpius Hypernion," said Scorpius, with a slight grimace. "How weird does _that _sound?"

"Very," said Rose. "Maybe you and Al aren't as different as you think."

She slipped from the table and stood before the other two.

Scorpius frowned. "What d'you mean?"

Rose did not elaborate, but headed towards the door, opening it, and saying, just before she disappeared through it, "We'll be late for Transfiguration."

* * *

It was Thursday. The common room was almost empty, apart from four people. Rose, Alice and Scorpius were sitting on the couch. Scorpius was staring into the embers of the fire and Alice and Rose were talking, while Rose read a book.

Albus was sitting alone in the other corner of the common room, desperately trying to get his essay, which was due for the next day, finished. He ran a hand through his hair, making it even messier than it had been, looking frustrated. He had refused help from the other three, even though he obviously needed it. Rose, though still angry at her cousin, was worried. She was hardly paying any attention to the conversation she and Alice were having, and she lifted her eyes from the book to glance at Albus.

Alice realised this; sighed and sank into a seat across from Albus.

"What is your problem?" she demanded.

"I thought that was clear," said Albus coolly, his eyebrows raising.

"It doesn't take a genius to work out that Scorpius is different," snapped Alice coldly.

"It's his family that I have the most problem with," said Albus. "You know his grandfather's in Azkaban, don't you?"

Alice nodded. Rose shut her book with a loud snap.

"You're not going to tell her …?"

"I am," said Albus firmly. "You two hate me because I'm not giving _him _a chance, when I have perfectly good reason not to."

He turned back to Alice, whose eyebrows were now hidden in her hair.

"My Mum and Dad used to live in Grimmauld Place," he said. "They got married just after Mum left Hogwarts, and moved in …. They had twins."

Scorpius shifted uncomfortably in his seat next to Rose.

"Lucius Malfoy tried to kill them all," Albus continued, in a low voice. "Even Ron and Hermione - they were staying there. Obviously, the twins died, and everyone else survived."

Silent tears were pouring down Rose's cheeks, Alice was wiping hers away with her sleeve, Scorpius's eyes were brimming with them, but none fell, and Albus had turned his head away, meaning that he too was crying.

"What were they called?" Alice asked, breaking the silence. "The twins."

It was Rose who answered.

"Rose," she whispered, another tear rolling down her cheek. "And Hugo."

She leaned back against what she had thought to be the back of the couch, but was actually Scorpius's shoulder. He didn't bat an eyelid, and turned to Albus, who was looking (or rather glaring), in his direction.

"I knew," said Scorpius softly. "And you should know that I've never been more ashamed of _anything _but my father and grandfather; how disgusted I am to have their blood running through my veins. And you should know too that I truly am different. The Sorting Hat knew that - why'd you think I ended up in Gryffindor? - Rose and Alice know it, but you don't. And you should; so I'm telling you."

His voice, soft and quiet as it was, was filled with emotion, a mixture of anger at his family and sadness at being, once again, misunderstood.

There was more silence; this one even more unbearable as the last. Albus broke it, speaking in the low voice that he had adopted in the last fifteen minutes.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "For not giving you a chance. It was ignorant of me. I just wish I'd have gotten a chance to meet them; you know? My brother and sister …"

Shaking his head, he trailed off, before repeating; "I'm sorry."

Scorpius half-smiled. "Apology accepted."

Then he gently eased Rose off of his shoulder, and he and Albus hugged as if they were brothers, or friends for a lot longer than two minutes.

* * *

_Ta da! What do you think? I'm proud of myself; I've never been a writer of long one-shots - if this can be counted as a one-shot. I was wondering if I should plunge straight into the story, but I opted against it. Sorry for not putting in a speech or Sorting Hat song - I'm not good at writing that sort of thing. Hope I've built some personalities in this. Go read the first chapter now, and don't forget to review along the way :)_


	2. The Summer Begins Properly

_OCs belong to me; everything else belongs to the amazing legend that is J.K Rowling

* * *

_

It was late July, and a tall girl with curly red hair rippling down her back wandered around the large garden, hands thrust deep in the pockets of the denim jeans that she was forced to wear in the heat. Rose was deep in thought, her feet moving of their own accord, but when her fingers closed around an apple quarter in her pocket she took control over them and headed towards the paddock.

The horses were grazing, their tails flicking to ward off the flies. The handsome black gelding's head shot up as he noticed the presence of Rose. He trotted towards the fence. She smiled, and held out her hand, the apple quarter lying flat in her palm. The gelding's lips tickled her hand as he gingerly snapped up the apple. Rose climbed onto the fence and stroked Noir's glossy black neck. The gelding bowed his head a little and half-closed his eyes.

For as long as she could remember, Rose had spent at least some of the summer and almost all of the Christmas holidays at the Potters' huge house. There was nothing better than lazy summer days with her brother and cousins, playing Quidditch, trying to avoid Fred and James's pranks, and just having fun. It had become tradition for the Weasley cousins to spend the holidays together, as was the whole extended family spending Christmas Day at the Burrow, and wearing Weasley sweaters on this occasion. It must take Molly Weasley most of the year to produce such an amount of sweaters, insisting that everyone have one, even the friends who came to the Burrow too.

This summer was a little different. When Rose had first arrived, there had been a craze. With Victoire despairing over her upcoming wedding, and Lily despairing over all of the horses not being exercised because of this. And then all of the horses had contracted the equine influenza. Most of them had gotten over it well, under Lily and Roxanne's care, and occasionally Rose and Albus's help, but Noir hadn't. Having been off form, it had taken him a long time, and he nearly gave up hope. Then the unlikely event of Rose bonding with the gentle gelding had resulted in his getting well. Lily had said that they were a horse and rider pair that "clicked", and that Victoire would be jealous.

The oldest Weasley cousin, however, had no time to be jealous of her younger cousin's bond with her prized horse, or to feel guilty about his illness. It was a week until her wedding, and the plans were not fully complete, plus Victoire was terrified that everything would go wrong.

Albus had gone to visit Melanie, Hermione's cousin. Albus and Rose were usually joined at the hip; like twins, only a day apart in age (as were James and Fred). But Rose hadn't gone with him. Scorpius had gone instead. Rose didn't know herself why she hadn't gone with her cousin and one of her best friends; she hadn't seen her second cousin in a long time, and she adored her third cousin, Katherine, who was nearly eleven and showed signs of magic, though she was crazy at most times.

Rose leapt lightly from the fence, gave Noir a departing pat, and headed off towards the lake on the other side of the paddock. A tall figure stood skimming stones. Rose didn't normally talk to her oddest cousin, but she walked towards the lake and Louis anyway. He turned to look at her as she came to a halt beside him. Then he bent to pick up another stone.

Rose was intrigued by her cousin. He stood taller than her, his blonde hair was tinged with both strawberry blonde and silvery blonde and his blue eyes were dazzling. He was very shy, hardly ever saying more than two words to anyone other than his sisters, he was odder than Lorcan and Lysander put together, and he was gay, which Rose supposed was the Veela in him.

"Need some company?" asked Rose softly. Louis shrugged and threw the stone that he was holding across the lake. It skimmed perfectly, bouncing six times before sinking beneath the depths of the slightly murky water.

"Excited about the wedding?" Rose tried next, trying to imitate Louis, but failing; her stone sank right to the bottom upon hitting the water.

Louis shrugged again, as if he, unlike his cousins, was not excited about the wedding of his eldest sister.

"Is Dom going to make it home?" Rose queried. Dominique was working in Brittany at the moment, and was worried that the portkey service was not working, as it was in the South of France, where, unfortunately, Alice (Rose's best friend) was.

Louis nodded this time, and stooped low to gather another stone. He skimmed it as expertly as the others.

Rose watched her cousin for a time, before becoming bored of this and racing around the lake as a vixen, chasing her brush and being silly in general. She liked to do this from time to time.

As darkness began to close in, Rose trotted towards the house, still in fox form. She as vaguely aware of Louis following more slowly.

She only changed back to human form when she reached the kitchen, partly because of the stern look Ginny gave her, and partly because of the fact that she couldn't eat her dinner as a fox.

She slid into a seat beside Lily, and inspected her food before eating it. She had very good reason, as James and Fred usually sneaked _something_ into it. Whether it was Beetles or Maggots into Roxanne's soup, or Nosebleed Nougats into Rose's Shepherd's Pie, they did something. It seemed today that the victim was Molly, who fainted about two minutes after Rose had decided that her dinner was safe and had started to eat.

Ginny didn't even bother to scold the boys as they fist-bumped each other across the table. It wouldn't have stopped them if she did; they were almost as bad as Fred and George had been, and Fred (ii) had absolutely no interest in school; his only ambition was to work in his father's shop. James was bright, and actually had a future outside joke shops.

After dinner, most of them headed upstairs to the room called the "common room" by most, as it had a great resemblance to the Gryffindor Common Room. Rose was among the group headed there. Victoire, Louis, Molly and Lucy went to their rooms.

Rose loved the familiar-ness of the common room. There was a wide bay window that gave them a view of the paddock, lake, forest and a segment of the garden. Bookshelves lined one of the walls, filled with a mixture of Wizard and Muggle books. Somehow a _Golden Trio _biography had found its way there. The condition of its spine made it obvious that nobody had read it, and that they most likely did not intend to. The other walls were plastered with pictures, paintings, Gryffindor hangings, banners, scarves and the like.

Rose sat in an armchair close to the empty fireplace, watching James and Fred discussing something in low voices. It was boring for her. She had to wait a while until her two friends and cousin returned. Yes, riding out with Lily, Firefly and Noir took up some of her time, but she was simply lost until she had another fox to run around with, a bird to playfully chase and an endangered leopard to protect and have fun with.

* * *

The sun was beating down again. Rose, mounted on Noir, picked her careful way through the forest. Lily and Firefly were just behind her. It had been Lily's idea to ride in the forest, since the heat was unbearable for both the girls and the horses.

In a wide clearing they had found, the horses popped over a fallen trunk. Noir seemed eager to jump, so they found more fallen tree trunks.

"You're coming to the Gymkhana with me," said Lily firmly, as they released the horses back into the paddock.

"A Gym- _what?_"

"Gymkhana," Lily repeated. "Muggle thing. Where horse riders get together and have some fun. How about next week, after the wedding?"

"Oh-kay," Rose said, slowly. "Can Al come?"

"He'll be begging us to let him come," said Lily. "Al loves Gymkhanas. So does Cookie."

The dapple grey horse pricked his ears at the sound of his name, and ambled towards them.

Lily smiled and withdrew a chocolate chip cookie from her pocket.

"We really need to stop feeding him cookies," said Lily, with a slight shake of her head.

"Have you _heard _his name?" Rose joked, with a grin.

"Yes, I have," Lily said, brushing her hands together to get rid of the crumbs. "When we were deliberating what to name them Albus had five cookies in his pocket. You know what happened."

Rose laughed. It was a strange laugh, she knew; rather like a vixen's bark.

"Foxy! Lils!" came a voice. "Lunch!"

It was James.

Rose threw her hair casually over her shoulder and headed towards the house. As she passed by James, she said. "Call me Foxy again and I will do something you'll regret."

She laughed softly to herself as she entered the kitchen. She loved taunting her cousins sometimes, but she never lived up to her threats. They still seemed to scare everyone anyway.

Lunch was peaceful, meaning that James and Fred had done nothing to the food, and Rose and Lily were roped into helping Ginny clear up.

"Al's coming home tomorrow," Ginny told them. "Melanie and Katherine are staying for the wedding, too. And Scorpius, but you knew that …"

Rose's face split into a wide grin. Her summer was about to get a whole lot better.

* * *

The next day passed in a haze. It rained in the morning, and the sun lost some of its intensity. Rose was glad to be able to put on her favourite pair of jeans instead of shorts. She brought Noir up to the little barn, where the horses were kept in the winter months, and groomed him. He wasn't dirty, but she wanted to spend some time with him.

It was quite strange - a month ago, she hadn't had any real interest in horses. She could ride (the only thing she'd been able to do to keep Lily off her case when the horses had first arrived) but that was it. Then when she had bonded with Noir, she'd discovered that there was a whole lot more to it, and that horses had their own therapy.

Indeed, grooming and spending time with Noir wound Rose down a little, which was a good thing, because Katherine was highly strung, and when hyper, very dangerous.

Melanie's SUV turned up as it had begun to get dark, when James had organised Quidditch with Lily, Roxanne and Fred. Louis was skimming stones again, and Rose was absent-mindedly stroking Noir's forehead.

A young girl with curly brown hair flying behind her ran towards Rose. Noir did not start as the girl, frantically waving a letter, attack-hugged Rose.

"Rosie! I'm going to Hogwarts! I'm going to Hogwarts! I got the letter today!"

She shoved it under Rose's nose, still gripping the older girl tightly.

Rose smiled. Her cousin was too enthusiastic for her own good.

"That's amazing, Katherine!" she said. "You could come to Diagon Alley with us."

It was only then that Katherine relinquished her grip on Rose. She looked at Noir, who had been standing docilely, taking in the scene with warm brown eyes.

"Did you get a horse?"

"No," Rose shook her head. "This is Noir, he's Victoire's."

"Oh," said Katherine. "He's beautiful."

"Much better than he was when I left," agreed a voice. Rose, completely unfazed by her cousin's sudden appearance, hugged him, and then Scorpius.

"Good to see you back!" she smiled. "Katherine's been telling me about her letter."

"You do _not _want to be in the same house as this girl when she is told that she's going to Wizard school with her third cousin and idol," said Scorpius, with a grimace.

"I'm right here you know!" Katherine exclaimed indignantly. "And anyway, I was on a sugar rush."

"You're always on a sugar rush," said Albus. "Did Alice get here yet?"

Rose shook her head. "Portkeys still aren't working."

"Oh aren't they?"

"_Alice?_"

The four of them turned. Alice indeed stood there, her hair, a shade lighter than honey blonde, falling across her face, a wide smile on her lips.

She was hugged by all four of them. Katherine hugged her with such ferocity that Alice nearly fell over.

"Get us anything?"

Rose rolled her eyes. Of course this would be the first thing Albus would ask.

"Yes, I did," said Alice. "But only Scorp can get his now."

She shot a smile at her fellow blonde.

"Why?" whined Albus.

"Because they're for your birthdays, stupid."

Albus realised. "Oh …ok then."

Alice smirked and rummaged in her shoulder bag, extracting a package and handing it to Scorpius.

"Thanks," he grinned, unwrapping it.

With the other four busy with their reunion, Katherine had climbed the fence and was stroking Noir.

"I'd love to have a horse like him," she murmured, as the other four leaned against the fence next to her.

"Didn't Mel say that you'd stress a horse out with your craziness?" said Albus.

Katherine chose to ignore him.

"We should go inside," said Albus, after a moment's silence. "Dinner'll be ready."

"What about Louis?" asked Alice. Louis was still skimming stones and, when Rose, Scorpius, Albus, Alice and Katherine went in, he would be the only one left outside.

"I'll get him" said Rose. She slipped through the bars of the fence, turning to a vixen as she went. She trotted across the field and came to a halt beside Louis. He turned and noticed her.

"Dinner?" he asked. She nodded.

Louis skimmed one last stone and headed towards the house. Rose set off after him, trotting up to the door, where she changed back to human form and went into the kitchen, where she was greeted by a smiling Melanie.

They all sat down to dinner, Rose sitting between Alice and Katherine. After they had eaten, Katherine went with the others up to the common room.

Alice pulled out a roll of parchment and started writing a letter, Rose selected a book and settled to read it, Albus and Scorpius were talking, and Katherine showed everyone else her Hogwarts letter.

After a while of this, Rose yawned, shut her book, bade the others goodnight and headed to the bedroom which she now would be sharing with Alice.

* * *

The next morning, Rose was woken by a loud voice she recognised as Katherine's. The young brunette was shaking her cousin ferociously.

"Rosie! Wake up! Mum and I are staying here for the rest of the Summer! Not just the wedding!"

"Awesome, Kath," Rose murmured sleepily. "Now go away …"

She shut her eyes again. Katherine left the room, telling anyone that would listen that she was there to stay for the next month and a bit. Rose now sat up, and noticed Alice sitting on her bed, brushing her blonde hair out.

"This will make the Summer more interesting," Alice muttered, raising her eyebrows.

"Definitely," Rose agreed.

* * *

_So there you go. My first chapter. This is also uncharacteristically long for me. __I have an extremely crazy cousin who I've based Katherine on. I made up Melanie and Katherine 'cus I wanted Hermione to have a family apart from her unnamed parents. Review?_


	3. OWL results and graveyards

_Spoilers to any watchers of my (ginnyharryfan22) youtube story; A Harry Potter love story._

_I own nothing you recognise

* * *

_

Rose was woken, early one sunny Thursday morning, in the fashion she was beginning to get used to; Katherine.

Today, the younger girl seemed especially crazy. Rose didn't bother getting changed, she simply slipped into her baby blue dressing gown and followed, yawning widely, as Katherine bounced down the stairs.

James and Fred were sitting side by side at one end of the table, poring over thick sheets of parchment. James had pinned a shiny badge to his t-shirt. Alice, sitting about halfway down the table, was staring at a heavy parchment envelope, looking as if she had seen a ghost.

"Hogwarts letters have arrived," Ginny explained. Rose went, if possible, paler than Alice as her aunt found the envelope addressed to her and passed it over.

James looked up, grinning at Rose. "Get it open then!"

"Yeah," Fred agreed. "We want to see how our genius has done!"

Rose dropped into the seat beside Alice, who was still staring at her envelope. Only when Rose slit hers open did the other girl do the same.

_ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS_

_Pass grades: Outstanding (O), Exceeds Expectations (E), Acceptable (A)_

_Fail grades: Poor (P), Dreadful (D), Troll (T)_

_ROSE AMELIA WEASLEY HAS ACHIEVED:_

_Ancient Runes: O_

_Astronomy: O_

_Care of Magical Creatures: O_

_Charms: O_

_Defence Against the Dark Arts: O_

_Herbology: O_

_History of Magic: E_

_Muggle Studies: O_

_Potions: O_

_Transfiguration: O_

Rose re-read the sheet of parchment many times, finally staring at it in disbelief. Yes, she knew she was smart, but she'd gotten _nine _'O's and _one _'E'.

"What did you get?" James demanded, peering over Rose's shoulder into her results.

He grinned, ruffling Rose's hair. "You're officially more of a genius than our Victoire. How d'you feel?"

"Shocked," Rose murmured truthfully.

"Swap?" said Alice, looking relieved and pleased. Rose obliged, scanning down through Alice's results.

_ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS_

_Pass grades: Outstanding (O), Exceeds Expectations (E), Acceptable (A)_

_Fail grades: Poor (P), Dreadful (D), Troll (T)_

_ALICE HANNAH LONGBOTTOM HAS ACHIEVED:_

_Astronomy: P_

_Care of Magical Creatures: E_

_Charms: O_

_Defence Against the Dark Arts: O_

_Divination: A_

_Herbology: O_

_History of Magic: P_

_Muggle Studies: O_

_Potions: O_

_Transfiguration: O_

"Well done!" Rose exclaimed, grinning at Alice. "You only failed Astronomy - you feel asleep during that exam - and History of Magic - you can't listen to Binns. And you're dad'll be pleased you got an 'O' in Herbology."

Alice smiled.

Albus and Scorpius arrived a few moments later.

"OWL results come?" said Albus with a yawn, seeing the letters in Rose and Alice's hands. Rose nodded.

Albus took his letter, and passed Scorpius his. Rose watched both boys closely for their reactions. Both faces relaxed, and then curved into smiles.

Rose and Alice approached the two boys. Rose traded Alice's results for Albus's, scanning down through it quickly.

_ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS_

_Pass grades: Outstanding (O), Exceeds Expectations (E), Acceptable (A)_

_Fail grades: Poor (P), Dreadful (D), Troll (T)_

_ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER HAS ACHIEVED:_

_Astronomy: E_

_Care of Magical Creatures: O_

_Charms: O_

_Defence Against the Dark Arts: O_

_Divination: P_

_Herbology: E_

_History of Magic: P_

_Potions: O_

_Transfiguration: O_

Rose looked up from Albus's results, saw that Alice had finished reading Scorpius's, and they traded their pieces of parchment.

_ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS_

_Pass grades: Outstanding (O), Exceeds Expectations (E), Acceptable (A)_

_Fail grades: Poor (P), Dreadful (D), Troll (T)_

_SCORPIUS HYPERNION MALFOY HAS ACHIEVED:_

_Ancient Runes: O_

_Astronomy: O_

_Care of Magical Creatures: O_

_Charms: O_

_Defence Against the Dark Arts: O_

_Herbology: E_

_History of Magic: A_

_Muggle Studies: O_

_Potions: O_

_Transfiguration: O_

"We all did well, in my opinion," said Albus, with an easy smile, as they resumed their seats.

"Yup," said Rose, smiling too. "James is going around telling everyone I got better results than Victoire."

"You got one more 'O' than her, didn't you?" Alice queried. Rose nodded.

"Are we the only ones that passed History of Magic?" Scorpius asked Rose, only half-joking.

She shrugged. "Most likely."

They ate their breakfast and, after Rose had gotten dressed, they stepped out into the sunlit garden.

They sat on the low stone wall that bordered the garden, and glanced over at the paddock on the other side of the garden. Lily was grooming Firefly, as usual, but she had shown Katherine how to groom Star, and the younger girl was doing so. It seemed as if she was doing it to spite Albus, as Star was calm and gentle as usual, head dropped, eyes half-closed.

Rose looked back from the two girls who were busy grooming to find that Alice had disappeared, and a golden bird with an unusually long beak was perched on Albus's shoulder.

"Want to mess around?" Rose asked.

The snidget chirped happily, which Rose took to mean yes.

"Race you to the paddock then," she said, with a grin, leaping from the wall, changing to the red vixen as she went. She raced across the garden, the other (arctic) fox and the leopard hot on her heels, the snidget flying overhead, beating them all by far.

When the two foxes and the leopard arrived, the bird was perched on the fence, staring down at them almost tauntingly.

"You guys are so cute!" Katherine exclaimed suddenly, abandoning her grooming of Star for a moment. "How do you do it?"

Rose didn't answer, as she knew that the girl would only hear it as a low growl or bark. Alice chirped, before realising that Katherine could not understand her, and Scorpius and Albus remained, like Rose, silent.

The snidget took flight, landing on Star's head. The palomino, unfazed, half-closed her eyes again as Katherine resumed her grooming.

Rose lay down, curled her brush around herself and watched the scene. Katherine sat on the ground next to her when she had finished grooming Star. Alice flew onto Katherine's shoulder. Scorpius and Albus curled up next to Rose, and Lily sat next to all of them.

It was nice, just sitting there in silence. A sudden splash made a few of them jump. It appeared that Louis was skimming stones again. Rose had no idea why he did it; it seemed that nobody did.

After more silence Rose, despite having only been up for an hour or so, felt her eyelids droop.

* * *

"Want to go out?" Albus suggested suddenly.

The four of them (Rose, Alice, Scorpius and Albus) were leaning against the paddock fence, in silence after conversation had dried up, until Albus had broken it.

"Riding?"

"Riding," Albus clarified.

There was a general murmur of asset, and ten minutes later, Noir, Cookie, Star and Ghost were tacked up. Alice looked positively terrified at having to ride Ghost, who was the only stallion, and, at most times, was aggressive. He usually stood alone in the corner of the paddock, as the geldings bared their teeth and the mares kicked out whenever he approached. Rose was sure that Ghost was a fine horse, when uninfluenced by James, who had insisted that if he was to learn how to ride, it was to be on a mean stallion.

Rose and Albus were happy with the horses they were riding. Scorpius had murmured, half to himself, about how much he missed Belle. But when Rose had suggested he take Noir, he'd refused, insisting he was fine with Star.

The four of them left, Albus leading the way, the horse's hooves clattering on first the gravel path that snaked its way through the garden, and then the road.

Ghost was uncharacteristically gentle, his head dropped almost as low as Noir's. Alice was relaxing and enjoying the ride.

The ride was mostly in silence, save for someone suggesting to the others they trot, or someone else making a random statement.

Albus did not tell any of the other three where they were going, and they did not question him, simply following curiously.

They finally stopped outside a graveyard with high, spiked, gates and a tall concrete wall. Albus stopped and dismounted Cookie. The others followed suit and they found a place to tie their horses.

"Why are we here?" Rose asked her cousin.

"You'll see," was the murmured response.

Confused, but curious, she was the first to follow her cousin. He looked as if he knew where he was going, and came to a halt in front of a headstone done in white marble. Rose's breath caught in her throat as she read.

_Rose Potter_

_Born 17__th__ May 1999_

_Died 19__th__ September 1999_

_And her twin brother Hugo_

_Born 17__th__ May 1999_

_Died 19__th__ September 1999_

Rose could feel the tears pouring down her cheeks. She had never known that Albus knew where she and Hugo's unfortunate cousins and namesakes were buried. Why had he never mentioned it?

Rose subconsciously thrust a hand into her pocket, and withdrew of soft pink rose. She frowned at it; how had it gotten there?

Sniffing a little, she bent down and laid it on the earth in front of the headstone. Fresh tears were streaming down her cheeks as she straightened up. The other three were crying too.

They all put their arms around each other and left the graveyard, united in sorrow, even though Alice had nothing to do with the twins, and it had been Scorpius's grandfather who had killed them.

* * *

_I feel so bad! I made myself cry. I can't believe that in my post-Hogwarts youtube fic I made Ginny pregnant just to kill her kids. I'm not evil, and I have no idea where it came from, but it adds a bit of edge, and I wanted Lucius Malfoy in prison. Badly._

_Anyways, hope you enjoyed, and hope I didn't make _you _cry. review. If _one terrible _review popped up I'd be bouncing off the walls. Constructive criticism is welcomed!_

_Wedding next chapter. Maybe Gymkhana chapter after that. Oh, and James is Quidditch Captain (badge he was wearing). No one in their right mind would make him Head Boy._


	4. The Wedding

_I do not own anything. Thank you to everyone who had bothered to read this

* * *

_It was dusk when Rose finally flopped down on a free armchair in the large "common" room, rubbing her temple and occasionally emitting a low groan; she had headaches didn't mix well.

With the wedding the next day, Victoire had wound herself up so tightly that she snapped at people for no apparent reason, and expressed the worry that everything would end in disaster. Rose and Alice - but mostly Rose -, as the bridesmaid, took the major blow of Victoire's mood, and were roped into helping with the decorations. Alice seemed to take to it well enough, and was quite good at calming Victoire down, but Rose was furious, barely stopping herself from throwing her own fit. Katherine, bored, had trailed after them, and her excited, unnervingly loud voice had not helped matters at all. To cap things, the sun was beating down again, fraying everybody's tempers.

Rose was immensely relieved that darkness had fallen. If she were to look out of the huge window she would just be able to make out the marquee, ghostly white and almost halving the garden space, along with the roses and flutterby bushes. Rose did not look out the window, simply sat alone - the others had, wisely, evacuated the area, hiding, Rose knew, amongst the hay in the barn. The only reason Rose did not join them was because she could not stand anyone's company.

Rose heard the footsteps clearly, as the house was almost empty, and saw Roxanne, carrying a silver goblet. She sat on the arm of Rose's chair and handed her the goblet.

"Drink it," said Roxanne. "Ginny said it'd help your headache."

Rose wondered why this particular Weasley cousin had delivered the potion to her. Rose hardly ever talked to her cousin and fellow Chaser, who was one of the three dark-haired members of the family, even though there was an ever so slight hint of red there.

"Thanks," Rose muttered, taking a sip of the blue liquid. She immediately felt the pain ebb, the odd coolness on her forehead soothing. The pain was almost gone when she had finished drinking all of the potion.

"James managed to set fire to some of the hay, but my brother actually did something responsible for a change and put it out before it could spread," Roxanne said. "And now Lily is singing some Muggle song I've never heard of."

Rose, who had been nodding slightly, and rolling her eyes at James's antics, did a double take. "Lily can _sing_?"

"It's a recent development," Roxanne murmured. "We were playing truth or dare a few days ago with Hugo, Fred and James, and Lily was dared to sing. She's pretty good, and she likes it."

"Hugo get dared to do anything I can tease him about?" Rose asked. Roxanne shook her head.

"I'd better go," the latter said, sliding off the arm of the chair. "Come if you like."

Rose followed, leaving the goblet on the table in the empty kitchen.

Laughter met the ears of the two cousins as they cross the garden and arrived at the barn. The stables were all empty, as the horses were kept out permanently in the good weather. The other family members, Alice and Scorpius, were sitting on the stacked bales of hay in the remaining space. Rose and Roxanne were greeted enthusiastically, Fred and James calling, "Rosie! Roxy!" together in a twin-like manner as the two girls were pulled atop of the bales by many hands. Rose found herself sandwiched between Alice and Scorpius, which was a normal occurrence.

Fred continued a recounting of what had happened when he had, as a dare by one of his dorm-mates, tried to rob Honeydukes, and they laughed. A huge, black dog emerged from one of the stables and climbed up beside Lily, who exclaimed, "Padfoot! I was getting worried about you!" and proceeded to hug the dog that everyone nursed a soft spot for, having been told stories of Sirius Black, the man - and animagus - that Padfoot had been named after.

Rose realised, right there, how many of them were named after victims of the wars. She herself was named after a post-war victim, and it was debatable whether her middle name corresponded to Amelia Bones, who had died during the war itself; she didn't know. Even the dog was named after a war victim; the same one James's middle name was devoted to.

Rose fingered the locket n her necklace she'd had for as long as she could remember. There was a rose inscribed on it, and the pictures inside were of her and her dead cousin, both when they were a few months old. Rose hadn't opened the locket for a year, but she noted that Alice had a locket of her own; a locket she hadn't had before she left for Spain. Rose knew from experience that lockets were something personal. Victoire wore one that had been passed down for many generations through her mother's side, and held pictures of her great grandmother down to her, all of a seventeen year-old on er birthday; the day she became a woman. Why had Alice acquired one? Was it the same tradition as Victoire's family? No; it couldn't be; in all Rose's visits to the Leaky Cauldron, she had never seen a locket hanging from Hannah's neck.

"Rose?" asked Alice, concerned. "Are you okay?"

She leaned towards her friend a little, and the gold locket Rose had noticed swung forward. There was nothing inscribed on the front of it, but a topaz was set there instead.

"Yeah," said Rose, with a smile. "I just spaced out."

A while later, the family trooped towards the house, Albus giving a drowsy Katherine a piggy back ride. He followed Rose and Alice up to their room, laid Katherine on her bed, bade the other two goodnight and disappeared.

Rose climbed into bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

She was shaken gently awake by Alice in the morning.

"Dom got here earlier," she said. "She's doing everyone's hair and make-up in Victoire's room, so go there after you've had a bath and put your dress on."

Leaving Rose's black dress on the bed, Alice departed.

Left alone in the room, Rose felt the words sink in; they took longer in her barely-awake state. She climbed out of bed, found her dressing gown, and headed off to find which of the three bathrooms were free.

After a quick bath, Rose dried and wrapped herself in her dressing gown, letting her damp hair hang freely. She traipsed barefoot to Victoire's bedroom, where Alice was sitting at the dressing table, looking agitated at having to sit still for so long. Lily was sitting on the bed, waiting for her turn, staring aimlessly around the room.

Rose let herself into the adjoining room, which had a Muggle hairdryer, bewitched to work in the magical environment. She dried her hair, and changed into her dress, which was just below knee-length, and felt soft. Smiling, she returned to the bedroom, and sat next to Lily on the bed.

After a boring wait, it was finally Rose's turn.

"How have you been?" Dominique asked, in a half-French accent that she had acquired in Dijon, tossing her shorter strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder and smiling.

"Great," Rose replied, sitting down.

Dominique didn't talk after that, concentrating on doing Rose's make-up. This was what she did; having studied it at a Muggle collage and moving to Dijon to do it professionally for both Muggle and Wizard customers. She loved Dijon, but visited England regularly, to see her family.

"All done!" Dominique announced, after a while. Rose turned her gaze to the mirror. Her hair, brushed out straightened and re-curled to a lesser extent, hung over her right shoulder, accessorised with a white rose. Her facial features were enhanced perfectly by the make-up, and everything blended perfectly with the dress.

"Thanks, Dom!" she said, with a grin, hopping off the stool and heading downstairs.

Victoire, Alice and Roxanne were the only ones sitting at the table. Victoire, looking beautiful, was wearing her wedding dress, made-up perfectly, but looking ghostly white, sitting in front of a plate of cold toast. Ginny smiled a little at the scene - perhaps it reminded her of her wedding day. Alice was eating a bowl of cereal carefully, so as not to mess up her make-up, and Roxanne was finished her breakfast, but was still sitting there. Rose dropped into a seat between the two of them, smiling but not saying anything. Neither of them did, either.

"Would you like anything?" Ginny asked.

"Not yet," Rose replied.

Alice had finished her breakfast and Roxanne had departed by the time Rose got to her feet and poured herself a bowl of cereal, taking tiny spoonfuls and opening her mouth unnecessarily wide so as not to ruin her lipgloss.

When she had finished, she went outside with Alice, who had waited for her. They found Albus and Scorpius easily.

"Looking good," said Scorpius, with a grin.

"Seconded," Albus added, with almost the exact same smile.

"Thanks," the two girls replied at the same time, with slight blushes.

"How long do we have to wait?" Albus asked.

Rose checked her watch. "About forty-five minutes yet. Has anyone arrived?"

"Gran," Albus replied. "And Bill and Fleur I think."

"Do we have to show people where to sit?" Alice asked timidly, suddenly hiding behind her hair.

Scorpius shook his head. "Don't worry. It's a sit-where-you-like thing, as far as I'm aware."

They whiled away the time left by talking, and split up when there was fifteen minutes left. Albus and Scorpius disappeared into the marquee, and Rose and Alice headed back to the house and Victoire.

Rose and Alice linked arms, and, carrying a bunch of the same rose in Rose's hair each, they followed Victoire and her father.

Rose did not listen to the ceremony; instead she watched the faces of the guests, Teddy and Victoire. Alice, next to her, was smiling widely.

Rose clapped with everyone else when Teddy and Victoire kissed and were showered with confetti.

The inside of the marquee was turned into a reception area, and Rose and Alice stepped over to congratulate Teddy and Victoire.

"Over there!" Alice said, a few moments later, when the two girls had been trying to find Albus and Scorpius in the crowd.

Rose, who wasn't able to see where Alice was pointing, was dragged over by the shorter girl.

"Found us all right, then," Albus murmured, passing a couple of Butterbeers over to them.

"Uh huh," said Alice, uncorking her bottle and taking a sip.

A while later, Katherine, dressed in a deep red dress, flopped down onto the remaining chair. Nobody acknowledged her presence, and the four of them were glad when a blonde boy her own age, introducing himself as Philippe (Gabrielle's son), took her and her loud voice away to dance.

Rose watched the few couples that had gotten up dance, with a slight smile. She didn't know why she was happy, and then she remembered that she was sixteen. Even she had forgotten, because of the wedding and the fact that she and Albus always celebrated their birthday the next day, Albus's birthday.

"Do you want to dance?" Scorpius asked, suddenly.

"With you?" Rose asked, surprised.

Scorpius smiled, rolling his eyes. "No; with that bush over there."

The other two decided to join them and they headed towards the dance floor. Rose was unsure of her feet, but she didn't step on Scorpius's, which she deemed as an achievement.

Silence.

"Happy birthday, Rose," Scorpius murmured.

"Thanks," she replied, surprised. Most people would've said it the next day. She smiled, and then the two couples swapped partners, Rose dancing with Albus and Alice with Scorpius.

"What should we do tomorrow?" Albus asked her.

Surprised to be asked, she replied, "I'm not sure. I haven't really thought about it. I thought we'd just be staying here."

"Lily said there was a Gymkhana," said Albus. "We could go to that and then do something else after. Louis would bring us, and we might even be able to pick Belle up."

"You've put some thought into it," Rose observed. "Have you talked to Alice and Scorp about it?"

"Naturally," he smiled. "And Louis."

"Then we should go," said Rose. "But is there a horse box or lorry big enough to bring five horses?"

Albus nodded.

"It's settled, then," said Rose, smiling.

The four of them returned to their table, smiling, slightly short of breath. The sat there until darkness fell, only the cousins remained, and Teddy and Victoire were half and hour away from departing for their honeymoon. Then they headed back to the house. Rose was stopped, however, by Victoire.

The bride smiled at her.

"Happy birthday," she murmured. "I have something for you, since I won't be here tomorrow."

She slipped a horse-hair bracelet onto Rose's wrist.

"Thank you," she said. "For keeping Noir alive."

And with that, she departed, leaving Rose to finger her bracelet, which was made of sleek black horse-hair; Noir's hair.

She left the empty marquee and walked back to the house alone. She went straight up to her room, and rummaged in her drawers for a music box made out of oak. It had been a present for Hermione, and had been passed down to Rose. She kept things special to her in there. She opened it and listened to the familiar, beautiful, tune. There were two fake galleons, a lock of red baby hair, pictures of her and Hugo, her and Albus, her, Alice, Albus and Scorpius and her with all of her cousins in the bottom of the box. She removed the rose from her hair and dropped it into it, and made to unfasten her horse-hair bracelet, but stopped herself, keeping it on. She snapped the box shut again, the tune stopping immediately. She replaced the box in the drawer, and went downstairs.

* * *

_I had difficulty finishing this, but I hope you like it_

_Next chapter; an interesting day when Rose, Alice, Albus, Scorpius and Louis go to the Gymkhana. Albus turns sixteen, Rose receives the rest of her presents, secrets are revealed as Alice recounts her sixteenth, and with a stop off at the Malfoy's house to pick up Scorpius's beloved horse, Belle, what drama will happen there?_

_(If that sounds like Dalton's preview, I've been reading it too much, sorry)_


	5. Revelations

_As you have no doubt realised, I'm not JKR, thus I don't own any of this.

* * *

_

Rose awoke in an empty room, to find that Alice's bed was littered with packages; Rose's presents.

She climbed out of bed, stretched a little, and set to opening them. There were only three books among the packages this year, which meant that her cousins had finally grasped the fact that, though she liked books, she was no Hermione replica. The most memorable gifts were a Thunderbolt from her parents, a bottle of enticing perfume with a French label from Alice, an old, leather bound book filled with short stories with both Wizard and Muggle characters (that she had been admiring, but hadn't told anyone) from Albus, and a beautiful, delicate, silver necklace, with the option to add tiny bird, fox and big cat pendants, which Rose did. The only note was a neat _Happy birthday _scrawled on the inside of the jewellery box, in a hand that Rose, in her barely-awake state, could not recognise, but found familiar.

She pulled on her clothes, clasped the necklace around her neck, spritzed some of the perfume on herself and headed downstairs.

Alice and Scorpius were the only people sitting at the table. Scorpius was sitting with an empty bowl of cereal in front of him, looking bored, whereas Alice looked sleepy, clutching her mug of coffee as though it were a lifeline. Ginny stood, leaning against the count, surveying the scene over her own mug of coffee.

Rose made herself some toast and dropped into a seat across from her two friends.

"Morning," Alice murmured sleepily. "Happy birthday."

"Thanks for the perfume," Rose replied.

Alice sniffed. "You wearing it now?"

"Yeah."

"Like the necklace," said Scorpius. "Who gave it to you?"

Alice gave an audible snort, but the other two ignored her, and she returned the favour, taking another sip of coffee.

"I don't know," Rose told him, taking a bite of toast.

Lily arrived a few moments later, and Albus another five minutes after that. Lily drilled what she and the others had planned into Rose's head.

"So Louis left already to get the lorry, and it'll fit all of the horses in with room to spare." She turned to Scorpius. "We can bring an extra saddle and bridle and stuff if we need it for Belle, and your parents are ok with us taking her?"

He nodded.

* * *

Rose sat on the grass, humming under her breath to herself as she cleaned the tack. Lily Albus and Alice were grooming the horses, and Scorpius had been putting everything they needed into a neat pile for when Louis arrived, but with that task finished, was wandering around aimlessly.

Rose jumped as he sat next to her, armed with a sponge.

"Need help?"

"No."

He smiled. "Thought you'd say that; but I'm helping anyway."

And with that, despite Rose's efforts to stop him, he snatched the saddle soap out of her hand, plunged the sponge into the bucket of water, and set to work cleaning Firefly's saddle.

"What did Al get you, then?" Scorpius asked, after a few moments' silence.

"A book of short stories," she replied.

He nodded. "He was talking about that. I take it you like it?"

It was Rose's turn to nod, then she said suddenly, "Which present is from you? There are two with no proper note, and nothing with your name."

"How do you know I didn't get you anything?" he asked.

Rose raised her eyebrows. "You've always gotten me a present, even in first year, even if it was at Christmas - _as well_ as my other Christmas presents."

"You were crying because your mother's cat died," Scorpius replied. "It was just to cheer you up."

"You care," said Rose firmly. "About all of us. I know it. You always try to help if we're upset, and, like I said, you always gave us something."

"Fine," he sighed, staring down at the saddle in his lap. "I got the necklace for you, happy?"

Rose touched it with a single finger, shocked.

"But this must have cost you a fortune!"

She even made to unclasp it, but he seized her wrist.

"My family's swimming in gold; it's not a problem. And anyway, you lot mean more to me than anyone I'm related to - well, except maybe Mum …"

His voice trailed into nothing, and he let go of her hand.

For a moment, they simply sat in silence, looking at each other, the air thick with unsaid things on both's lips.

Rose lowered her gaze, and picked up a shiny leather saddle. Without a word, she carried it up to the barn, where Lily was plaiting Firefly's mane in silence, while Albus and Alice chatted easily over the other two horses' backs.

"I'll plait Noir after this," Lily said, without looking up. "Unless you want to."

"I'll do it," Rose replied immediately. Lily, still not looking up, jerked her head towards the bales. Atop of the nearest, Rose found a mane comb and bag of black plaiting bands. She slid into Noir's loose box, and set to plaiting his mane, her mind settling on the events that seemed groggy in her mind, but were only from a few minutes ago.

* * *

A while later - Rose didn't know exactly when - a large lorry that looked positively monstrous pulled into the drive. Louis jumped from the cab, and walked towards them without saying anything.

Lily, immediately excited, declared, "Shotgun!" and loaded Firefly into the back of the lorry, which was large enough to hold six horses, with a cab for two people and an area in the middle that Rose didn't know much about at all. She soon found out, as she and Albus undertook the task of loading in the equipment. Inside, it was like a kitchen, living room, bedroom and storage room combined. Rose knelt on the- she didn't know what to call it - area with dark red cushions seemed to serve as both a couch and bed, and drew the curtains of the same material separated it from the cab. She stared at and out of the wide windscreen, which had an array of coloured rosettes - mostly red, but some blue, yellow green and a couple purple. The seats were of comfortable leather, and Lily, having loaded the horses quickly and effectively, was already settled in the passenger seat. She turned, grinning at her brother and cousin.

"I love it when we can borrow this one! It belongs to Victoire's friend - she's big on shows and stuff too. It's the biggest, and it's the most comfortable."

The other door to the middle area opened and Scorpius climbed in, helping Alice up after him.

"Ready to go?" he asked the others, who all nodded.

One of the horses whinnied, Louis climbed into the front (still not talking to anyone), and the engine started. Albus plopped down on the cushions and made himself comfortable.

"Is it _safe?_" Rose asked. Alice seemed to be having the same concern.

"'Course it is," said Albus, looking up at them. "Done it tons of times before."

At this Rose sat, curling herself up and hugging her knees, beside him, and the other two sat next to them. The lorry moved forward, and they were on their way.

After five minutes of total silence, Lily leaned forward to jab the ON button on the radio, and a Weird Sisters' classic came out of it. Lily changed to station, and the music changed to a Muggle song Rose had never heard before, but the music was soft, gentle.

_I've been awake for a while now_

_You got me feeling like a child now_

'_Cause every time I see your bubbly face_

_I get the tingles in a silly place_

_It starts in my toes, makes me crinkle my nose_

_Wherever it goes I always know_

_That you make me smile_

_Please stay for a while now_

_Just take your time_

_Wherever you go_

_The rain is falling on my window-pane_

_But we are hiding in a safer place_

_Under covers staying safe and warm_

_You give me feelings that I adore_

_They start in my toes, make me crinkle my nose_

_Wherever it goes I always know_

_That you make me smile_

_Please stay for a while now_

_Just take your time_

_Wherever you go_

_What am I gonna say?_

_When you make me feel this way_

_I just hmm_

_Well it starts in my toes_

_Makes me crinkle my nose_

_Wherever it goes I always know_

_Hat you make me smile_

_Please stay for a while now_

_Just take your time, wherever you go …_

_I've been asleep for a while now_

_You tuck me in just like a child now_

'_Cause every time you hold me in your arms_

_I'm comfortable enough to feel your warmth_

_It starts in my soul and I lose all control_

_When you kiss my nose the feeling shows_

'_Cause you make me smile_

_Baby, just take your time now_

_Wherever you go_

_Wherever, wherever, wherever you go_

_Wherever, wherever, wherever you go_

_Wherever you go_

_I always know_

'_Cause you make me smile_

_Even just for a while …_

Rose stared down at her knees as the music stopped. It was a beautiful song, she knew, but she felt … attached … to it.

"Do you know what that was called?" she asked Lily.

"Yup," the smaller redhead replied immediately. "Colbie Callait; Bubbly. A personal favourite. I love Muggle songs."

Rose did not say anything. She fiddled with a stray thread of her SSS sweater, determinately not looking at anyone. She felt strange inside, but, brushing it off as excitement, she joined the conversation Albus, Scorpius and Alice were having, without a clue what they were talking about.

* * *

Rose and Alice went with Scorpius to pick up his black mare, Belle. His parents were ok with him taking Belle, but Rose and Alice were uneasy that their presence may cause a stir. However, it seemed that nobody was home. Belle was standing docilely in her loose box, and her tack, which was unfortunately dirty, was nearby. Alice took the saddle, Rose the leadrope, and Scorpius closed the loose box door behind them.

They were half way across the grave path when a voice said, "So you're taking her now, Scorpius?"

Without acknowledging either of the girls, Draco Malfoy addressed his son.

"Yes, father," said Scorpius, his voice more bitter than Rose had ever heard it.

"And when will you be bringing her back?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," said Scorpius, in a low voice. "I might want to ride her out during the rest of the summer. With my friends." Here he gestured to the girls standing on either side of him. Draco still ignored them, which Rose was perfectly happy with. Her past experience of Draco Malfoy had not been pleasant, when he had stormed into her house two days after the end of term in first year, demanding of her parents to know why his son was 'friends with the enemy'. Similar events had happened at Albus's house, as Rose had been told.

"Will she be back before you go back to school?"

"I don't know," Scorpius repeated.

"What use would she be there? You're not going to _their _house for Christmas?"

"Still working on it."

With that, Scorpius gently nudged rose, who obeyed the pressure, and, clicking her tongue, led Belle and the other two to the lorry.

Scorpius let down the ramp, rose loaded the beautiful mare, and, working together to raise the ramp, a harder task, they climbed into the lorry and left.

* * *

"He's awfully excited," Rose observed, sponging Noir down, as his glossy coat had patches of sweat from the journey.

Lily laughed. "He thinks it's a competition, don't you boy?" she patted the gelding's neck. "Don't worry. Just hold him loose you're warming him up and he'll calm down. Firefly's the same, not able to keep still!"

This of course was true. The chestnut mare, tied reasonably loosely to the side of the lorry, was sidestepping and whinnying frantically to other horses she seemed to recognise.

A few metres away, Alice was warming up star, trotting in wide, easy circles. Even further away, Scorpius was doing the same with Belle, while Albus was waiting for them and Rose to finish so that they could enter a team for flag racing.

Rose tacked Noir up quickly and mounted him. He warmed up easily, as he calmed down in a matter of minutes, and stopped fighting her for more reins in another few. She ended by trotting gently up to Albus, and watching as Alice and Scorpius finished their warm-up exercises, and joined them.

"Flag racing?"

* * *

"Let's get ice-cream," said Lily, hours later. They had dumped the rosettes they were given for taking part in the Gymkhana events, and tied the horses up by the lorry, where they were crazing quite happily.

"All right," Rose answered, looking questionably at the other three.

"We're in," said Alice.

"I'll get it," Lily offered, and she headed off.

"This is the most fun I've had in ages," said Alice, as they sat down on the grass.

"What did you do for your sixteenth?" Scorpius asked her. "I just had presents and a mournful, 'Happy birthday.'"

To their general surprise, Alice's expression suddenly changed, and she fingered the locket hanging around her neck.

"What happened?" Rose asked gently.

"I found out something," Alice sighed. "Can I … Can i just tell Scorp for now?"

"Of course," said Albus.

Alice smiled at him, and stood up. Scorpius followed her as she walked in the direction of the cotton candy stand.

"It must have something terrible," Rose mused, worried.

The look on her cousin's face mirrored his. They sat in silence until Lily came back, struggling to hold five ice-creams.

"Where's Alice and Scorpius?" she asked, as Albus and Rose took a cone each.

Rose looked over to where she had seen them last. Scorpius was hugging her. When he released her, they came back over, Alice wiping her eyes.

Lily handed them an ice-cream each, and they sat in an awkward silence.

"What was that about?" Rose asked Scorpius in an undertone.

"Can't tell you," he whispered back. "It'd break the un-twin pact. Like you and Al have."

Rose frowned. Alice and Scorpius were not that close in age - a month or so apart - and they didn't use the un-twin thing that Rose and Albus, as well as James and Fred, did.

She didn't question further. Alice would tell them when she was ready.

* * *

Louis came back from wherever it was he was to drive them home a while later. During the journey Lily sat in the passenger seat again, and put on more Colbie Callait music for Rose to listen to. Albus and Scorpius were sitting on the floor talking in low voice, while Rose and Alice stretched out on the cushioned area.

"I think I'll tell you as well," Alice murmured, after a long silence.

"What?" asked Rose, who had forgotten about the events of earlier on.

"What happened on my sixteenth," Alice explained, sitting up a little straighter, and taking off her necklace. "And to tell you what this is for. I know you were wondering."

She popped the locket open, and Rose saw that one window held a picture of Alice, smiling, as usual, widely. The other window had a very vague picture, which Rose recognised as a scan photo, which Muggles used to check that their unborn children were all right.

"That was me and my twin brother, Alex," Alice murmured quietly, looking at the deep red cushion she was sitting on so as to avoid meeting Rose's gaze. "He was stillborn."

Rose stared in shock at her friend, who now looked up, tears swimming in her eyes.

"I've always felt like there was a huge hole in my life," she told Rose. "But I never knew why."

Rose hugged her friend, as she had seen Scorpius do earlier, and murmured, "I'm sorry. Are you going to tell Al?"

Alice nodded. "Eventually. When Scorp tells you his secret."

"What secret?" Rose asked, and a guilty look spread over Alice's face.

* * *

_So there you have it. They all have a dark past, sort of. Albus's and Rose's is the same, though, the dead brother and sister/cousins, and Alice's is a dead twin. So what's Scorpius's? This one actually has nothing to do with his family._

_Does England have the same rosette system as Ireland? Red - first place; blue - second; yellow - third; green - fourth and so on?_

_I love the song featured in this chapter, and added it in as a whim. Sorry if it doesn't work, but I do hope you liked my first Scorpius/Rose scene in this._

_Review?_


	6. Autumn Arrives

_You know I don't own anything_

* * *

The Summer seemed to whirl by in a blur. Rose knew that it was the best Summer she'd had; the first when all of her friends were together in one place; and the first when she'd really realised what horses could do for you.

August arrived, and the leaves of the trees changed into a riot of different colours, reminding them of their impending return to Hogwarts, and also that they needed to visit Diagon Alley to buy their supplies.

On a pleasant morning halfway through August, Rose arrived in the kitchen to see the table already almost full, and Ginny rifling through a stack of parchment of an enormous size.

"Our booklists," Lily explained to her as she sat down. "We're going to Diagon Alley after Dad gets home."

Rose nodded and took a slice of toast. Harry had been away with her own father on some job, and Rose hadn't seen either of them for over two weeks.

After breakfast, most of them went outside. Rose broke away from the others and wandered over to the paddock, where she found Noir and Belle grooming each other, and the other horses grazing.

To Rose's surprise, both black horses came over to her when she reached the gate, propping her elbows on it.

"Hi guys," she murmured, using both hands to stroke their noses in unison.

"She likes you," said a voice, as Scorpius stood beside her.

"Yeah," she answered. "And Noir."

"They've got stuff in common," Scorpius smiled. "Both black, both with French names."

"I never thought of that," said Rose softly, as Noir nudged her shoulder. "Why did you call her Belle? I mean, it's obvious why Victoire called him Noir, with him being black and her grandparents being the ones who gave him to her …"

"It's obvious too," Scorpius murmured. "She's beautiful."

He fed the mare a mint and stroked her neck.

"Hmm," was all Rose said after that.

Alice and Albus joined them, bringing conversation along with them. The four of them stood, leaning against the gate, watching the horses and talking, until they heard a _thump _from the house, and went to investigate.

It seemed that Harry and Ron had apparated into the house, and while Lily had hugged her father in a dignified way, Hugo had flung himself at his, colliding into him and causing the sound.

Rose and Albus hugged their fathers, while Alice and Scorpius hung back rather awkwardly.

Rose did not miss the look her father shot Scorpius's way, but he did not speak, so neither did she.

As she went up to the bedroom she shared with Alice and Katherine to collect her bag of gold and a few extra things, she realised what a feat it was for most of her family to accept Scorpius as her and Albus's friend. Even Harry and Ginny had managed to do it, and it was their children who had been killed. It was only Rose's father who continued to hold the long-lasting prejudice between Weasleys and Malfoys.

She met Alice on the landing, and they went down the stairs together. It seemed that everybody was already in the car, which was magically enlarged to fit them all.

They squeezed into the remaining space on the back seat, and the car moved forward.

A short while later, they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, where everyone but Alice, Rose, Albus, Scorpius, and Katherine (who had attached herself to Rose, holding her arm in a vice-like grip) moved through to the back to go into Diagon Alley, Ginny telling them to meet at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Alice smiled at them and headed up to the bar, said something to the friendly-looking barmaid standing there, and went up the stairs behind it.

Rose and the others sat at a free table, talking, until Alice returned.

They went out into the small area at the back, and Albus stepped forward to tap the brick that would admit them into the cobbled Alley.

They slipped through the archway and into the crowd. They caught glimpses of fellow Hogwarts students they recognised; some saying hello, others waving, still others completely ignoring them.

Katherine, now bouncing on the balls of her feet, asked if they could go to Ollivander's' first. The teenagers, remembering their excitement when they were Katherine's age, agreed, and allowed her to lead them to the wand maker's shop, where the frail, ancient man stood behind the counter, and smiling young woman who resembled him standing beside him. Rose recognised her as Layla, who was some relation to Ollivander, though what, she did not know.

Katherine, her brown eyes huge and shining with excitement, stepped forward. She had her right arm measured and began the testing of wands. After a surprisingly short time, she found the right wand; birch with a unicorn tail hair core, eleven inches long. She took out the gold that she had been given by Ginny, Melanie having paid the equivalent in pounds, paid for her new wand, and practically skipped out of the shop, the others following.

They went to Madam Malkin's next, where they met Jamie O' Rourke, a fifth year Ravenclaw. He smiled at them.

"Hello."

"Hi Jamie," they answered.

"Hi," said Katherine. "I'm Katherine."

"Nice to meet you, Katherine," he said.

"Do anything interesting over the Summer?" Alice asked, as they approached the counter.

Jamie shrugged. "Not really. I'm a Prefect though."

"Good for you," Rose told him. "Thought you'd get it."

They did not talk after that, as Jamie went to get his robes fitted and they awaited their turns.

When they left the shop, complete with new robes, they met Roxanne and Lily on their way in.

Smiling in recognition, they slipped past each other. Rose, Albus, Katherine, Scorpius and Alice then visited the other shops necessary for all of their supplies. They did not go to Flourish and Blotts, since the adults would be buying their books. After they'd bought everything, they sat on a bench, contemplating where to go next, as they did not want to go to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes yet.

"Can I get a pet?" Katherine piped up suddenly. "I still have enough gold left."

"You might want that for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes though," said Alice reasonably.

"We get it free if Angie or Verity is there, though," Albus added.

"All right," Rose said. "We'll go to Magical Menargie. Anything in mind?"

Katherine shrugged as the five of the headed towards the shop. The bell above the door tinkled as they pushed it open. A middle-aged woman stood behind the counter.

Katherine looked around at all the creatures. Owls hooted at them from perches, rats peered at them from cages, and grey kittens mewled at them from a wicker basket, one of them attempting to climb out.

Katherine moved over to the kittens, stroking the one that was trying to climb out of it. It ceased its attempts to escape, and purred.

"Can I have it?" Katherine asked the witch.

"Ten galleons," she replied.

Katherine nodded, handed over the gold and scooped up the kitten.

They left the shop, Katherine, her new kitten purring in her arms, bringing up the rear. They went to Eeyelops, where Rose and Albus bought owl nuts for their owls, and then headed to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

Most of the family where there already. James and Fred were poring over the Skiving Snackboxes on the shelves, Roxanne was in conversation with her mother, Molly and Lucy were looking at the Muggle tricks, and the others were someplace else, where they couldn't immediately see.

Rose managed to separate from the others, but she found them soon enough. Katherine and Alice were among other girls looking at the WonderWitch products, but Katherine was mostly trying to stop her kitten from pouncing on the Pygmy Puffs.

Rose helped the younger girl, and then picked a few products off the shelves, before heading to the counter.

Angelina waved away her gold, and everyone else's.

"Family and friends of family don't pay here," she said firmly. "Now go on; Ginny's waiting for you."

They headed out of the shop, joining the rest of the family, who returned to the Leaky Cauldron.

They sat at a long table, chatting and sipping their drinks, and Hannah joined them.

* * *

The house was still and silent. It was only a day until they went back to Hogwarts, and most people, it seemed, had accompanied James, Fred, Lily and Roxanne when they had headed off on a walk.

Rose went downstairs, hearing clattering in the kitchen. She leaned against the doorframe and watched.

"What are you doing?" she asked eventually, causing Scorpius to jump and look round.

"Baking," he answered, looking away again.

She moved into the kitchen, knowing she was looking amused.

"Baking?" she repeated. "You know how to bake?"

"No," he admitted. "I'm trying to."

"Need some help?"

"I'd love some."

"All right then," said Rose, rolling up her sleeves and moving over to stand beside her friend. "What are you trying to make?"

"Chocolate fudge cake."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Bit high, your expectations."

He punched her arm. "I hate you, you know."

"Love you too," she chirped, taking the recipe from Scorpius and scanning it, thus missing the look on his face.

"All right, it's pretty simple, I guess ..."

It wasn't a complete disaster, but it wasn't really a great achievement either. The cake dissolved into crumbs, but still tasted all right, and Rose somehow ended up covered in flour, and, ignoring Scorpius's assurances that it was an accident, she flung her hair back over her shoulder and growled, "Oh it's on, Malfoy."

Thus, they both ended up covered in flour, and laughing hysterically. Rose went upstairs to change, and when she came back down, the kitchen was clean and empty.

She went outside, finding Albus and Scorpius sitting on the fence, Alice between them, talking, and Katherine lying on her stomach on the grass, half in the shade of the huge oak tree, her bare feet in the air, reading her copy of _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1, _twirling her wand absently. Her kitten, Smoky, was scampering around the garden, chasing butterflies.

Rose hopped up onto the fence beside her friends, joining their conversation.

"I can't believe we're going back tomorrow," Alice murmured.

"Neither can I," Rose replied. "Half of me wants to stay here, half of me is excited to go back."

The boys nodded in agreement.

"But it'll be fun, won't it," Scorpius added. "A new year, new adventure."

"We never have an adventure," said Rose.

"Well yeah," said Scorpius. "But I've got a feeling this year's gonna be different."

* * *

_It sure is. And Rose is so dense. So very dense. I was going to do it that she's been in love with Scorpius for ages, but I did it the other way round instead. Well, Rose _has _been in love with him for ages, she just doesn't know it yet :)_


	7. News

_Do not own. Damn, this wasn't supposed to go dark at all …_

* * *

It seemed as if the morning of the first of September would never be peaceful; Rose woke to find the house in a frenzy. Alice, who was packing some last-minute things into her trunk, was probably the only calm one.

"Let me guess," Rose murmured, as she pulled a sweater over her head. "Most of the trunks weren't packed, and I'm not the only one who overslept."

"Exactly," Alice replied.

Rose smiled and went downstairs.

Only a few people were sitting at the table; Hugo was munching toast mechanically, looking tired; Roxanne was bright-eyed, and was chatting to Lucy, unaware that the latter's head was slowly moving towards her bowl of cereal.

Rose stole a piece of toast from Hugo's plate, ignoring her bleary-eyed brother's protests, and went upstairs again.

She packed her hairbrush, a couple of spell books and her potions kit into her trunk before slamming the lid down on it. She then somehow managed to haul it downstairs, nearly colliding into Katherine, who was chasing after Smoky, trying in vain to catch the kitten.

Rose left her trunk in the hall, and returned upstairs, heading towards the "common room". Predictably, Angel, Rose's white scops owl, was perched atop of the bookshelf. She hooted and flew down to land on Rose's shoulder

"That makes things easier," Rose smiled, crossing the hall to fetch Angel's cage and put the owl inside.

Rose had time to spare, since she had already packed her trunk, and gotten everything ready. She slipped outside into the garden, and headed down to the paddock. Noir greeted her with a low whicker.

She stroked his head, murmuring, "I'm going to miss you."

He gazed at her with his wide brown eyes almost reproachfully, as if he was disappointed that she would miss him.

Laughing softly, she patted his neck and kissed his velvety nose, before returning to the house, fingering the bracelet made of Noir's hair that was fastened around her wrist.

It was only about ten minutes later when they all climbed into the car and started their journey to King's Cross.

Rose, once again, wondered how the Muggles remained oblivious. Over three hundred children turned up on the first of September, some already dressed in robes, most of them with owls, and they all disappeared without boarding a train (or so they thought).

The group collected trolleys for their trunks and pets and headed towards Platforms nine and ten.

They went through the ticket barrier in pairs to save time. Rose went through with Alice, emerging on Platform nine and three quarters. Albus and Scorpius arrived and the four of them helped each other to lift their trunks onto the train.

Ginny hugged all of them, and they clambered onto the train.

"See you later," Rose murmured to Albus and Alice, as she and Scorpius separated from them to go to the Prefect's compartment.

They learned that Sarah Bell from Ravenclaw and Thomas O' Sullivan from Gryffindor were the new Heads, and that the fifth year prefects were (apart from Jamie and Molly) were Aisling Dowd and Sam Clarke from Hufflepuff, Nadia Ryerson from Ravenclaw, Liam Finnigan from Gryffindor and Mark Nott and Jane Williams from Slytherin.

Sarah and Thomas talked to them for the guts of fifteen minutes, and then they were asked to patrol the corridors.

"You can go find Al and Alice," Molly said with a smile. "We'll do the corridors, won't we Liam?"

"Thanks guys!" Rose exclaimed, and she and Scorpius walked down the empty corridor, dragging their trunks behind them. After a few moments, they realised that their way was barred by Ella Zabini, a fellow sixth year prefect, and a Slytherin.

"What do _you_ want, Zabini?" Rose growled.

"Just a chat," said the other girl calmly, examining a fingernail.

"Well we don't want to talk to you," said Scorpius coldly, his hand on his pocket, ready to draw his wand at any moment. Rose already had hers clutched tightly in her hand.

Zabini's cold eyes scanned over them both, how close they were standing, their elbows brushing.

"Are you together now? Congrats."

And with that, she left, her long black hair swirling behind her.

"I _hate _her," Rose muttered darkly, starting again to walk down the corridor. A few seconds later, she turned.

"Scorp? Are you okay?"

There was no answer from her friend. Frowning, she returned to his side.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah I - I'm fine."

He smiled, but Rose could tell it was forced. Had Zabini caused all this? Still frowning, she nodded and they headed off again in search of Albus and Alice.

* * *

"Come on," Alice murmured to the other three, as she slid the compartment door open and led the way off the train.

They climbed into a Thestral-drawn carriage and it set off at once, rattling towards the castle.

At last, they reached the castle, and clambered out the carriage. They had barely set foot inside the Entrance Hall, about to join the crowd milling into the Great Hall for the Feast, when the formidable head of Ravenclaw and Transfiguration teacher Professor Hinton approached.

"You four," she barked. "You're wanted in Professor Longbottom's office."

None of the four of them said anything, but they shot each other a look before following Professor Hinton.

She opened the door and let them pass, before shutting it after them. Rose looked around the office, which she had never been in before. The walls were plastered with pictures of the Longbottom family, a _Mimbulus Mimbeltonia _sat on the desk, and the sword of Godric Gryffindor was mounted on the wall behind said desk. Professor Longbottom stood behind the desk, looking worried. His features relaxed only slightly at the sight of his daughter and her friends. Rose was surprised to see her father and uncle standing almost side by side by the window, unreadable, identical expressions on their faces, and a woman vaguely familiar to Rose pacing the area in front of the men, her thick travelling cloak trailing along the ground behind her.

Rose's question died on her lips as Albus asked it for her.

"What's wrong?"

Harry turned away from the window, addressing the four teenagers standing worriedly in the doorway. "We've just come from Azkaban; there's been a breakout."

"Who?" Alice asked, so quiet it was a wonder that it was audible.

"Malfoy," Rose's father growled, clenching his fists slightly.

Rose felt Albus and Scorpius tense on either side of her. Harry continued. "We don't know why he's broken out, but given what he was convicted for … just be careful," his bright green eyes passed over the four of them, "all of you."

"You think … you think he's going to try and kill you again?" Rose half-whispered, dreading the answer.

Her uncle nodded, and she closed her eyes in horror.

* * *

The feast seemed to pass in a blur. Nobody but the four of them knew about the breakout. To everyone else was just a normal day; they were back at Hogwarts; they had a whole year of school ahead of them, and there was nothing to worry about.

Rose, Albus, Scorpius and Alice had arrived in time for the Sorting, but they'd missed the hat's song. The first years were sorted, and an almost unbearably excited and delighted Katherine was sorted into Gryffindor, where she sat beside a girl with a long black plait down her back.

Rose, Albus, Scorpius and Alice talked in low voices about the news, and what it would mean to them. Scorpius was, though the escapee was his grandfather, worried, even for himself, but mostly Albus.

"Look what our family's done to each other," he hissed. "My great-aunt killed her _cousin and her niece._"

"Do you think he'll target me?" Albus asked. His voice was not fearful, and this was what Rose admired the most about her cousin; he took after his father in more ways than looks.

After the main course they had dropped the subject of Lucius Malfoy's escape and what his intentions were, and talked instead of the normal things; the lessons the next day; Quidditch; wondering if Teddy would be back to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts (the latter being the only new thing). When they had finished the feast, they waited for Professor McHale's speech, which was completely devoid of any indication that Azkaban was missing a prisoner; Rose expected it would be in the _Prophet _the next morning anyway.

* * *

When Rose had her subscription of the _Daily Prophet _delivered to her the next morning, she found that her expectations were correct. The front page bore a highly unpleasant picture of Lucius Malfoy, with the headline; _AZKABAN FACES ITS FIRST BREAKOUT IN OVER TWENTY YEARS._

"Turn it upside-down would you?" Scorpius asked, after it had arrived. "I'm trying to eat."

Smiling, Rose obeyed, turning the newspaper so that the front page faced the table, and helping herself to a slice of toast.

"Oh look," said Alice suddenly. "Teddy _is _there."

The other threes' heads turned, to find that their friend was correct. Professor Lupin (which Rose still, after three years, had trouble calling him, usually saying something along the lines of, "Te-Professor") was sitting at the staff table.

They had been wondering if he would be back from his honeymoon in time to teach them, and had gone as far to wonder which substitute they would get (agreeing on Professor McKinnon, who was head of Hufflepuff and whose main subject was Charms).

With at least one aspect of the day to look forward to, Rose finished her breakfast slightly more cheerfully.

* * *

"Hey; are you all right?"

Rose looked up. It was a free period the sixth years had gotten after lunch, and Rose, with her homework already finished, had curled up into a ball on the window-ledge, gazing out on the grounds. She saw that Scorpius had joined her. He looked concerned that she had not moved for twenty minutes.

"I'm worried," she admitted with a sigh.

"Me too," her friend murmured. "But I'm sure it'll be all right."

"Easy to say that when you're comforting someone," said Rose, with an ever so slight smile. "Not so easy to convince yourself."

"We know each other too well," Scorpius said, with a half glance towards Albus and Alice, who were still finishing their Transfiguration homework.

"We do," Rose agreed.

"You shouldn't worry though," Scorpius murmured to her. "It's better to think positively, and whatever happens, happens."

He nudged her and slid off the window-sill, returning to Albus and Alice.

Rose sighed softly to herself, leaning her head against the window-pane. She knew that Scorpius was right, but the trouble was, she was a worrier by nature.

After their free period, they headed to Defence Against the Dark Arts, where Teddy first welcomed them back, before mentioning Lucius Malfoy, and then getting into the lesson.

They were moving onto non-verbal spells, which was the case for all sixth-year classes. The lesson, with Teddy teaching, was more enjoyable than any of Rose's so far that day, but she still felt half-hearted in her participation. She knew that she should follow her friend's advice and stop worrying. But how did you stop a worrier from worrying? The answer came to her; _distraction._

But then again, how to do that? The only thing she could think of was Quidditch, and she'd have to wait a while for that. What, then?

But the bell rang, slicing through her line of thought. She gathered her books and followed her classmates to their Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Maybe Hagrid could help her.

* * *

_Decreasing in length, but I did say that the first chapters were long for me ..._


	8. Changes

_Don't own._

* * *

Time passed quickly. October brought with it relentless rain and Quidditch practise. The trials had been a success, Rose, Lily, Roxanne and Fred returning fairly after out-flying all other contenders, and Scorpius, who had been persuaded (or rather pressured) by the other six members of the team to try out, had joined the team, reducing a disgruntled Hugo to Reserve Keeper. They had all been secretly hoping that they would find someone to replace Hugo, who had unfortunately been the best they could find after Louis had left Hogwarts. James was determined to claim the Quidditch cup once again, and pushed the team. They did end up winning the first match of the season. November passed in a blur, and December arrived.

Christmas approached quickly; before they knew it snow had begun to fall, a Hogsmeade trip was scheduled for a few days before the end of term, and Rose and Scorpius (as prefects) were roped into helping with the decorations.

The Hogsmeade trip was quick and uneventful; they bought their presents, had a Butterbeer and headed back to the castle. It was too cold to do much else, and the snow was getting deeper.

The day before the end of term, the common room was full of students chatting to each other about what they were going to do for the holidays, and giving each other presents to open when Christmas Day arrived, probably because they would not see the receiver, and did not have an owl.

Rose and the other three had once again claimed to comfortable sofa next to the fire. It seemed that everybody had accepted that it was 'theirs', and nobody else sat there.

They chatted easily, Rose and Albus telling the other two that they could come to the Burrow if they wanted, or even spend the whole holiday at the Potters'.

"Mum and Dad are on a cruise," Scorpius murmured, brandishing a letter. "So it's either stay here or go to yours."

"They just up and left and told you in a _letter_?" said Alice incredulously.

Scorpius merely shrugged. "I'm used to that sort of thing."

They had grown used to it too, by then. It seemed that Astoria was the only person in the family who cared for Scorpius, and still it did not count for much.

The four of them stayed up later than anyone else, and it was Albus who departed first, bidding them all goodnight with a smile.

"See you in the morning," Rose murmured not too long after, getting to her feet and climbing up the girls' staircase tiredly.

* * *

A loud crash echoed through the sleeping Gryffindor tower, and almost all of its occupants woke with a start.

In the sixth year girls' dormitory, the twins had reached the door first. They peered curiously down the staircase, which was no longer a staircase, but a smooth stone slide.

Aisha sighed in relief and returned to the dormitory. Samantha and Amy soon followed her, but Rose and Alice stayed behind. They had seen a figure at the bottom of what had been the staircase, a figure they both recognised.

"Scorp?" Alice called cautiously.

"Yeah!" came the answer. "Come down!"

They obeyed, clambering to their feet quickly once they had reached the bottom.

"What is it?" Rose asked, terrified at the look on the sliver she could see of hr friend's face.

"It's Al," Scorpius told them, his voice suddenly hoarse. "He's gone."

"Gone?" Alice repeated incredulously at once. What do you mean, _gone?_"

"Kidnapped," Scorpius explained. "I should've heard something!" he looked furious with himself "but by the time I woke up he was gone!"

Both the girls touched one of his arms gently and spoke with one voice. "It's not your fault; don't blame yourself."

"Fred's gone with the cloak to search the grounds," he said, after a few moments. "I offered to do it, but …"

Rose could not see why he had been denied that chance. He could change into an arctic fox, and blend in with the swirling snow easily.

"And James went for help," Scorpius finished. With that, he collapsed onto the couch that he, Alice, Albus and Rose had so often sat on together, talking about nothing and everything, and put his head in his hands.

Rose walked towards the stone slide, and put a foot on it. It changed back into the staircase at her touch, and she climbed it, to find a deathly pale Lily standing at the top.

"You heard?" Rose asked. Lily nodded frantically, pushed past Rose and ran down the staircase.

Rose then focused on the task at hand, informing the family. Roxanne had already gone down, looking for Lily. Rose saw Molly trying to shepherd first years back to their dormitory.

"Rose!" Katherine exclaimed at once, struggling towards her, an indignant-looking Smoky bundled in her arms. "What happened?"

"Al's been kidnapped," Rose answered, surprised at how calm her voice sounded. Molly stopped what she was doing at once. Katherine looked frightened.

Rose ignored them both, moving over to the third years' dormitory door. She hammered on it.

"Lucy!" she called. "Lucy, are you in there?"

Her cousin opened the door, her dressing gown half on, still putting on her glasses.

Lucy yawned, pushing her glasses farther up her nose and pulling the other arm of her dressing gown on.

"What's up?" she asked sleepily.

"Al's been kidnapped," Rose repeated. The effect it had on Lucy went unnoticed, as Rose was already half-way down the staircase again.

Most of the family and some friends were assembled in the common room. Rose's eyes were drawn first to her two friends. Scorpius, still looking a mixture of furious with himself and anxious, was being calmed down by Alice. Nearby, the Scamander twins were talking in low voices. How Lorcan had gotten is was beyond her. Lucy emerged at the bottom of the staircase just as the portrait hole opened and closed again.

Fred pulled the invisibility cloak off and started pacing at once, cursing under his breath. It was safe to say that there had been no trace of either Albus or his kidnapper.

Rose sat beside her two friends, and they waited.

Eventually, James reappeared, with professors McHale, Longbottom and Lupin. It was Teddy who addressed them.

"Most of your parents are on their way, and a team of Aurors has already been sent out to track down Al and Malfoy"

"So it is him?" Lorcan interrupted. "Who's taken Al?"

"We think so," Teddy answered. "What are you doing in here?"

The Ravenclaw shrugged. "Ly let me in. I want to be here for my friends."

He offered a small smile and looked round at the all. Surprisingly, Lucy blushed, and Rose, despite herself, smiled.

The subject of how Lorcan had gotten into Gryffindor tower was dropped.

"I'm sure Al will be all right," Teddy said to them. "But until he's caught, _be careful._"

Without another word, he and the other two professors left the common room, but not before Alice had hugged her father.

They waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Most of them were asleep, and the relit fire was dying, when the portrait hole opened, and Ginny, Hermione, Angelina, Victoire, Dominique and Louis clambered in.

The sleeping awoke, as if an alarm clock had sounded through the darkness, and the newcomers were welcomed.

Rose approached her mother, who hugged her gently.

"If it's ok," she murmured, as her mother released her. "I'd like to stay here for the holidays - Alice and Scorpius want to stay too … but - if it's possible - I'd like to go to the Burrow for Christmas day, like normal."

She looked enquiringly up at Hermione, who nodded almost immediately.

"If that's what you want, I'm sure we can arrange it."

This time Rose hugged her, and tightly.

"Thanks Mum," Rose said, and then she turned away to return to Alice and Scorpius.

"It's settled," she muttered to them.

They nodded in one movement, even the ghosts of smiles appearing on their anxious faces.

* * *

"Thought I'd find you here."

Rose, too used to all of her friends sneaking up on her, did not start, but merely moved over a little on the stone so that Scorpius could sit next to her. He did so.

Whenever it became too much for Rose, she slipped out onto the grounds and sat on the large war memorial stone. Sometimes, she would even trace her fingers over the names on its face, stopping at Fred's.

Term had ended almost a week ago, and now Rose, Scorpius and Alice had the whole Gryffindor tower to themselves. They found themselves going to the Ravenclaw tower often, since they were all clever enough to get in, and the Ravenclaws who were staying did not mind their presence.

Rose had almost nothing to distract her from the fact that her cousin was missing. The deep snow meant it was impossible to play Quidditch (and how could she, anyway?), she had finished her homework, and with only her two best friends and sometimes Ravenclaws for company, there was little to do other than worry.

"Aren't you cold?" Scorpius asked.

"No," Rose lied, thought she knew she was shivering.

"Always the stubborn one," he murmured, taking off his coat and handing it to her.

"Thanks," she murmured in a low voice. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw him smile.

There was a silence, during which they watched the snowflakes that had resumed falling drift gently towards the ground, and then -

"Do you think he's all right?"

Rose frowned the slightest bit. It was unlike Scorpius to be seeking solace. He was usually the one giving it. She also knew who her friend was talking about without having to ask.

Eventually, she murmured, very truthfully, "I don't know … but you know who his parents are, he has to have inherited some of that. And _he_" - here she was talking about Lucius Malfoy, but she did not want to utter his name, and saying 'your grandfather' might irritate Scorpius - "doesn't know Al's an animagus."

"Unless he saw the register," Scorpius muttered reasonably.

Rose shrugged. "What brought this on, anyway?"

"What?"

She raised an eyebrow. "The sudden turn of the tables. _You're _the one normally giving _me_ comfort, not the other way round."

He shrugged, in almost exactly the same way as she had. "I can't be strong _all _the time. And since it's my physco grandfather who's after Al …" here, he shrugged once again.

Rose hit his arm.

"What was that for?" he exclaimed indignantly.

"Dunno," Rose answered, but she was feeling more cheerful than she had in days. She hopped off the stone, transformed at once into a red vixen and started trotting up towards the castle.

The arctic fox, who blended beautifully in with the snow, caught up with her quickly.

Unbeknownst to them, someone was watching them. Alice was standing at a window of the Gryffindor tower, a smile playing on her lips, even though her eyes were red, watching the two foxes frolic in the snow. It had been a while, but hopefully this meant two things; two things that would change everything for the better.

* * *

It was very late - how late, Rose could not say, but the fire was completely extinguished.

And yet all three of them were still awake, barely, but still awake. None of them wanted to go to bed. Scorpius did not say anything, but the two girls knew that he loathed sleeping in an empty dormitory, and they, too - even though they had each other - felt extremely lonely. In the end, Alice shook herself out of her half-asleep state.

"Look, why don't we all just stay in the same dorm?"

Rose perked up and heard, and then four eyes turned on Scorpius.

"I'm not complaining," he murmured, looking back at the two girls.

"Settled," Rose yawned, and they finally shifted off the sofa and climbed the stairs to the sixth year boys' dormitory.

It was impossible to tell that somebody was staying there; all the beds looked cold and empty, though there were trunks at the end of two of them. Albus's things had been left in the off chance that he would return alive and unharmed.

Alice judged which bed she wanted and made a beeline for the bed nearest the door. The trunk at the bottom had the initials A.P inscribed on it.

Rose did not say a word, but she exchanged a look with Scorpius, who was smiling ever so slightly; almost a smirk.

Of course they both knew what was going on with Alice, the silences, the frustrated look, the tiredness, even if she did not herself. Rose was happy that her friend was no longer oblivious.

She climbed into the bed next to Albus's, and lay awake for a while before she fell asleep, though she knew that she would have stayed awake much later if it were not for the fact that the unfamiliar bed did not seem unfriendly at all.

What seemed like days later, she woke again. It seemed as if it were dawn, and it took a few seconds for her to realise where she was. She looked to her right. Alice was still asleep, her honey-blonde hair spread out on the pillow. She was mumbling, obviously dreaming of something. Rose glanced to her left, and her eyes met another pair, a very tired and familiar pair.

"Did you sleep at all?" she murmured, sliding out of the bed she had slept in and sitting on the end of the one to her left, where her friend also sat.

"An hour or two," was the answer. "I'm not used to this bed."

Rose frowned. "But your trunk's at the bottom."

"I know," Scorpius replied. "But it's Rory's bed. _That's_ mine."

He indicated the bed that Rose had slept in.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"It's fine."

"I can't take it anymore!"

Rose and Scorpius looked round at their friend, but she was still asleep, and her voice had dropped once again to mumbles.

* * *

_Don't shoot!_

_So Alice is coming to terms with the fact that she's in love with Al, while Rose remains as oblivious as ever that Scorp's loved her forever, and all the while, Albus is missing._

_And the stone. I think that Hogwarts would be the best place for a war memorial stone, since that's where the battle happened. I bet Harry made them put Snape's name on. It'd be a nice place to just sit and think if you don't get depressed. I reckon you'd be able to see Dumbledore's grave from where you sat on it (if you wanted to sit on it, that is, like Rose)._

_Sorry for pretty much skipping October and November! I tried to write something by way of a chapter, but I couldn't._

_By the way, I'm posting a one-shot that's related to this story, if you'd like to read it._


	9. Chistmas Surprises

_Do not own a single thing (except the plot, and the OCs)_

* * *

It was strange, how different and yet similar Lorcan and Lysander were. They were twins; they'd both inherited their mother's dirty-blonde hair (though Lysander's seemed a shade darker), and had wide hazel-ish eyes. They stood at around the same height. Lorcan was the smarter and the odder of the two, and he was a Ravenclaw. He was always equipped with either Dirigible plums or Gurdyroots. Lysander was the more normal (and the younger). He was a Gryffindor. The twins knew each other inside out, and yet they seemed distant. Lorcan was closer to his best friend, Mikayla, and Lysander was closer to the Potter-Weasley family, even though Lorcan was also friendly with them.

Rose pondered the differences as she sat on an armchair in the Ravenclaw common room, watching Lorcan and Mikayla playing chess - more to take her mind off things than anything else. Lorcan had requested, as had Rose, Scorpius and Alice, to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays, and go to the Burrow for Christmas Eve and Day (the Scamanders were welcome, as they lived close, and were friendly with the family) while Lysander had gone home.

Rose also wondered why so many Ravenclaws had stayed for the holidays. It had to be almost half the house that sat in the common room, most studying, some, like Lorcan and Mikayla, playing chess, others reading books. One girl, a seventh year, was practising making potions for her N.E.W.T exams. Rose knew that one of them was Amortentia, by the glorious scents that she had just inhaled.

Now she sniffed interestedly, wondering what it was. She could distinguish Saddle Soap, and the scent of a baking cake … chocolate fudge … but what was the third …? It smelt like a … pillow.

Shrugging ever so slightly, she turned her gaze back to the game of chess. She could see that Alice's cheeks had tinged pink; obviously whatever she had smelt had embarrassed her.

The five of them sat in silence, broken only by the orders given to the chess pieces and the other Ravenclaws, each (of the five), it seemed, pondering what they had just smelt, or the next move they would make in the chess game.

They were whiling away the time until Teddy came to collect them (Rose, Scorpius, Alice and Lorcan) and they would head off for the Burrow. They were taking the Knight Bus, which Rose was anticipating with dread - the Knight Bus had a notoriety of being an extremely bumpy ride, and Rose's own past experiences had led her to hate every journey that had to be made using the purple three-decker bus.

They did not have long to wait. Just as soon as Rose had noted that snow was once again swirling outside, the knocker outside the common room sounded, the question was asked, answered, and the entrance opened to reveal Teddy.

"You all ready?" he asked, gaze finding the four he was looking for.

There was a chorus of 'yes' or something similar, and all of them, led by Rose, came up to him, dragging their trunks behind them. Lorcan brought up the rear, as he had to say goodbye and Merry Christmas to Mikayla.

Rose was relieved when Teddy vanished their trunks for them. They left the common room, several goodbyes calling after them from the friendlier Ravenclaws.

They followed Teddy out of the castle and down to the gates, heads bowed against the blizzard. When they eventually reached the towering gates, which were topped with the statues of winged boars, Teddy had already unlocked them and flagged down the Knight Bus.

They climbed on and found seats - Rose taking care to be near something she could hold on to - while Teddy paid. She still fell over when the bus lurched forward, however.

When they eventually reached Ottery St. Catchpole, they were glad to see the back of the Knight Bus. They started towards the tall, crooked building that was the Burrow cheerily.

"Are you all right?" Rose asked suddenly, staring in concern at her friend, who looked exhausted and on the verge of tears simultaneously.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Alice asked, frowning.

"No offence, but you look terrible."

"And you've been talking in your sleep," Scorpius supplied. "You never do that."

"I'm just worried about Al," Alice said. "Everyone is."

Her tone made her wish for the subject to be dropped clear, and they had reached the Burrow, so Rose did not say anything more, though a glance at her other friend told her that he too was worried.

* * *

The living room seemed the only un-subdued place in the whole house. When Rose, Scorpius, Lorcan and Alice entered, they found most of the occupants were involved in a game of exploding snap. Molly read in a corner on her own, and Lucy talked with Lysander and Katherine, a conversation which Lorcan happily joined. Katherine hugged Rose.

"How come you're here?" Rose asked the younger girl.

She shrugged. "Mum went to visit Lyndsey; Dad's gone too; I begged to stay here for the holidays."

"Cool," Rose murmured.

"Why don't we go for a walk?" Scorpius suggested suddenly, after Katherine had returned to her previous conversation, and there had been a considerable silence.

Rose considered the suggestion, and then smiled slightly. "Ok. I'll ask Alice if she wants to come."

She went upstairs to the room the three of them were sharing. There was an extra bed, for if Albus returned, and his trunk lay at the foot of it. Alice was sitting on her bed, staring out of the window into space.

"Do you want to come for a walk?" Rose asked, as she wound her Gryffindor scarf around her neck. "Scorp and I are going."

"No thanks," Alice murmured, without looking round. "I think I'll just stay in the warm."

Rose nodded as she put on her jacket and Gryffindor scarf left the room, scooping up Scorpius's own Gryffindor scarf as she went.

"She didn't want to come," she said, stating the obvious, as she emerged at the bottom of the stairs to find Scorpius waiting for her. She offered his scarf to him; he took it, murmuring his thanks.

"How about we go to Stoatshead Hill and back?" Scorpius suggested, as they crossed the garden.

"Sounds good to me," Rose answered, shivering slightly and tightening her scarf.

They walked in relative silence, and stopped around half-way up; as Scorpius had discovered that a lone rose had survived on a bush. He picked it, sniffed it, and held it out to her.

"A rose for Rose," he murmured.

She accepted it with a smile, sniffing it as well before putting it in her hair, reminiscent of how she had worn the rose for the wedding earlier in the year.

"It's beautiful when it's like this," she murmured, as they continued to walk. "Cold, but beautiful."

"It sure is."

"My parents got married in the snow," she continued, remembering the photos she'd seen; the story she'd been told. "Christmas Day. Here," she gestured back to the Burrow. "And George and Angie did too."

Scorpius stayed silent as she told him what she knew about both weddings.

"It'd be lovely to get married at Christmas," she concluded in a soft voice.

"Yeah, it would," Scorpius agreed.

They both stopped - which was not entirely because they'd reached the top of the hill - and looked at each other.

When Rose dropped her gaze to the snow-covered ground, she was sure that her cheeks were pink. She looked up again, and froze as something caught her attention.

"I just saw a leopard," she whispered, and she set off at a run towards a nearby thicket of trees.

"What? Are you sure?"

"Positive!" Rose replied, skidding to a halt. "How many amur leopards to you see around here, huh?"

"Not many."

And Albus emerged from the trees, accepting the simultaneous hugs bestowed on him with a grin.

"Glad to see you're happy to see me. Where's Alice? Not often she's not with you two."

"She's back at the house," Rose answered. "Here; you must be freezing!"

She took off her scarf and gave it to her cousin. Scorpius in turn gave her his with a slight smile.

She murmured her thanks as the three of them headed down the hill again.

They slid in the back way, avoiding detection as they went upstairs and into the bedroom. Alice was asleep. Rose shook her gently.

"Alice?"

"Leave me alone, Rose," Alice mumbled sleepily, shifting away from the hand. "'M tired."

"Hey, Alice," Albus tried. This time, the honey-blonde's eyes flickered open.

"Al?"

"That's me," he said.

"You okay?" she murmured, sitting up a little and scrutinising him.

"Better now I've seen you."

She blushed. "That's good." And with that, she fell back to sleep.

* * *

"What happened with Alice?" Albus asked curiously.

Rose, yawning, poured herself a goblet of pumpkin juice. "You got kidnapped. She worried, she got miserable."

"Miserable?" Albus repeated, his green eyes shining with excitement, uncharacteristically for him.

"Uh huh," Rose murmured sleepily, leaning against the worktop. "She hardly ever slept."

She paused, eyeing her cousin apprehensively.

"You're not going to ask her out again, are you? It was uncomfortable enough last time. And if she _did _say yes, then it'd effectively ruin your friendship - for all four of us, really - forever."

She took a sip of her pumpkin juice.

"But maybe things have changed," he said hopefully.

"Then you should ask Scorp," Rose murmured. "He knows more than me."

"All right; I will," said Albus. "Merry Christmas, Rosie."

"Merry Christmas, Al," she answered.

He left.

She wondered, as she drank more of her juice, if things would really change all that much if the four of them paired off.

She almost spit out a mouthful of pumpkin juice as she realised what she had thought. Her and Scorpius? Together …? She would never have thought of that in a million years.

She laid down her goblet, which was still half-full, brushing away the odd feeling inside her and returning upstairs to open her presents.

"Merry Christmas," Alice greeted with a smile. "Thanks for the Chaser gloves."

"Merry Christmas," Rose repeated, but she could not say 'you're welcome'.

She sat on her bed and started unwrapping her presents in silence.

"Have you seen either of the guys at all?" Alice asked suddenly, frowning.

"I was just talking to Al," Rose answered. "But I haven't seen Scorp … do you want me to look for them?"

"If you want to," Alice shrugged.

Rose got to her feet, crossed the room and headed outside. She found Scorpius where she'd expected, in the only place you could sit peacefully in the garden, and have no one find you (unless they knew where to look); sitting on a large rock behind the rhododendron bush.

"Al's looking for you, you know," she said, sitting down too.

"What for?"

"To grill you about how Alice's feelings have changed. She has realised she loves him now, hasn't she?"

Scorpius nodded.

"So now it's only a matter of time until they get together," Rose murmured.

"Better tell Al, then," Scorpius sighed. "Where is he?"

"Dunno," Rose shrugged. "But I'm sure we can find him easily."

They did. He came up to them almost as soon as they had come in the door. Rose disappeared and returned to the bedroom.

"You found them, then?" Alice questioned.

"Yeah, I did," Rose replied, returning to the task of unwrapping her Christmas presents.

"Thanks," she said to Alice, upon unwrapping a present from her friend; a book called _A Guide to Studying._

"Thought you'd like it," Alice replied with a smile.

Rose unwrapped Scorpius's present next. It was simply a framed photograph of the four of them, taken only yesterday, all beaming at the camera and wearing each other's Gryffindor scarves, Rose still with the flower in her hair. The note said;

_Not the best Christmas present, but memories are special, and this one's really special._

_Merry Christmas,_

_Scorp_

Smiling, she laid the picture on her bedside locker.

"Isn't that from yesterday?" Alice asked interestedly, peering at the photo.

"Yeah, it is," Rose answered, turning to open the rest of her presents.

* * *

_The return of Albus, and the realisation kicks in for the girls. Though Rose is still being dense, and Alice is too shy to do anything.  
_


	10. Holiday Happiness

_Don't own  
_

* * *

The living room was full of family (and friends) waiting for the call that would tell them that Christmas dinner was ready. Earlier, they'd thanked each other for the presents they'd received, and, despite the snow, gone out to play Quidditch in the Orchard, everyone wearing their new sweaters.

They all sat comfortably in the living room, doing a number of different things. Teddy and Victoire, when they arrived, sat under the Christmas tree. Louis sat in a nearby armchair, with Dominique on its arm, and the three siblings and Teddy were chatting, while Victoire, almost absent-mindedly, offered a box of Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans to everyone else. James, Fred, Molly and Nadine (Molly's friend) played Exploding Snap. Lily and Roxanne played a game of Wizard's Chess in front of the fire (which had been lit earlier than usual in the cold Winter), while Padfoot, who Lily had insisted on bringing, lay sleeping beside them, and Hugo watched from where he sat in a free armchair. Lucy's tabby cat, Mitch, who seemed to have favoured him, was curled up on his chest. Lysander sat in the other available armchair, while Lucy and Lorcan sat at his feet, alternately chatting and observing the chess game. The sofa was occupied by Scorpius, Alice, Albus, Katherine and Smoky. Rose leaned against the space where Katherine's legs ought to have been – had the younger girl not been curled like her cat – and read a book taken from the dusty bookshelf nearby.

"Remember last year?" James grinned, looking up from the pile of exploded cards.

"Vividly," murmured Lucy, taking a handful of beans from the box that had been passed across the room to her.

"You'd better not be planning anything similar for this year," Roxanne muttered fervently, without looking up from the chessboard, where her Rook was involved in a violent struggle with Lily's Pawn.

"Of course we're not," said Fred airily.

"Yeah," James added, still grinning. "We're being _angels _this year."

They laughed. It came as no surprise that nobody believed what James had said; not when they _did_ vividly remember (or had been told, in the case of Scorpius and Nadine) the events of the previous Christmas. James and Fred, in an act of extra mischief, set Dungbombs off in the garden, swapped several of the overage's wands with trick ones, and handed out chocolate-coated hazelnuts that resulted in a variety of ails. The twosome had mercifully not tried to ruin Christmas dinner.

"Scorpius?" Lucy asked suddenly, her gaze on the window.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Isn't that your owl?" she queried. And indeed it was; Scorpius's own handsome barn owl, Ollie, was perched on the window-sill. Victoire, who was closest to the window, opened it before anyone else could so much as blink. Ollie flew over to the sofa, perching on the arm and dutifully sticking out his leg, to which a letter was attached.

Scorpius untied the letter, allowed the owl to hop onto his shoulder, and left the room, most likely to show Ollie where his cage was.

When Scorpius returned, he looked annoyed, and did not say a word to anyone as he retook his seat.

Rose raised her eyebrows at Alice over the top of the book. Her friend shrugged, looking perplexed.

Roxanne won the chess game just as Audrey popped her head round the door to tell them that Christmas dinner was ready.

* * *

Some of the snow was finally disappearing, and the New Year would be upon them in only a few days. Rose, Alice and Scorpius, who had originally planned to return to Hogwarts after Boxing Day, went with Albus to spend the remainder of the Christmas Holidays at the Potters'.

Rose and Scorpius had left the house to visit the horses. Noir and Belle were delighted to see them, and whinnied frantically upon their arrival. The stable doors rattled.

"Easy! Calm down!" Rose laughed, as she unbolted Noir's stable door and slid in, stroking his neck.

"Guess you missed me, then," she murmured, smiling hugely.

Noir whickered, perhaps in agreement, and nudged her shoulder.

Once the horses had calmed considerably, Rose and Scorpius gave them departing pats and headed back to the house. Padfoot, who had been sleeping in a pile of loose straw, awoke as they passed and gambolled after them, upsetting the blanket of snow.

"_There _you are," said Alice immediately, when they met her in the hall. She had evidently been about to go out to look for them; she was wearing her hand-knitted sweater under her coat, and her Gryffindor scarf was wound around her neck. "I was just about try and find you."

She took off her coat and scarf, hung them up on one of hooks on the wall and led the way upstairs. Noise issued from the "common" room. They could see that everyone (Albus, Lily, James, Roxanne, Fred and Melanie) was grouped around a table, playing Exploding Snap, chatting and complaining about a loss they'd sustained.

"Get over here," Fred called cheerfully to the three of them. They pulled up chairs, while Lily re-dealt the cards.

They played seven games before Ginny appeared, with plates full of food floating in the air before her.

"Thought you might like to eat up here," she said to them. "And Scorpius – your mother's in the kitchen. She'd like to speak with you."

Scorpius nodded and rose, as if he'd been expecting it. He followed Ginny, and without looking back, seemed to sense that Rose, Alice and Albus had half-risen from their seats. "It's fine. See you in a few minutes."

They ate in silence, all, it appeared, with the same thing on their mind.

When Scorpius returned, he looked uncharacteristically grim, and annoyed. He did not say a word, but he must have noticed Rose, Alice and Albus all exchanging glances.

"I'm going to bed," Rose yawned to the others, after some time. "Night."

"Night!" they called back to her, as she left the room.

She reached the landing and stopped, hearing voices. Creeping down the stairs slightly, she listened intently, wondering if it would be worth it if she dashed up to her room and fetched a pair of extendable ears from her trunk.

No need; she could hear the voices.

" … have to let him have a say," Ginny was saying. "It will affect his future the most, after all."

Rose heard a soft thump on the table; someone had put down a mug of tea or something similar. There was a sigh from another person.

"I know," said a soft voice. Rose found it familiar; it had to be Scorpius's mother's. She shifted down a step lower, listening harder.

"But I don't want to put him in danger," Astoria continued. "After what happened to his friend –"

"Al's fine," Ginny cut in firmly. "If anything; he's happier than before."

Rose's smile was almost a smirk; she knew exactly why her cousin was happier. Then her smile turned into a thoughtful frown.

"I'd best go," Astoria sighed after a considerable silence. "Thank you for the tea, Ginny. Goodbye."

The kitchen door opened and closed again. Ginny got to her feet, and Rose bolted up the stairs. Ginny heard, as she muttered, "If it's _those two _again."

Rose took "those two" to mean Fred and James. Closing her bedroom door, she turned her thoughts to the segment of conversation she'd just overheard.

* * *

"What are you two _doing?_" Melanie demanded of Fred and James.

"Planning," James replied promptly, without looking up from the piece of parchment that he and his cousin were scribbling on.

"For what?" Alice asked suspiciously, taking a handful of popcorn from a bowl on the floor.

They were gathered in the "common room" again, meant to be watching a film that Melanie had brought with her, but instead talking, while only the younger girl's attention (most of it, anyway) remained on the Disney movie.

"New Years' party," Fred told them shortly.

"Mum said we could have some friends over," James added.

"So; family, Lor, Ly, that girl – what's her name? that Ravenclaw one? With the braided hair?"

"Mikayla," Rose supplied helpfully.

"That's the one; thanks," James smiled, gracing them with eye-contact at last.

"– Nadine, Maddie – we haven't seen her in _ages_, unless you count at school, and we don't– aaand Rory. How does that sound?" Fred finished, grinning at them.

"You're inviting Rory?" Albus asked, confused.

"Rory O' Malley?" Scorpius blinked. "Irish guy; in our dorm; the shy one?"

"That's the one," said Fred cheerfully. "Apparently his parents are in Ireland and he's all alone in his aunt's house with his sister" ("– we're not inviting her; she's just a stuck up …" said James) "and we figured he needed a bit of crazy, and you four should know him. Especially you two."

"How did you evaluate that Rory needed a bit of crazy?" Alice asked them incredulously. "He normally just keeps to himself; doesn't he?"

"We're aiming to get him to come out of his shell," James told them.

"He doesn't keep _completely _to himself," Rose said to her friend. "He's got a friend in Hufflepuff, doesn't he? And he seems to get along all right with Rósín Walsh … maybe because she's Irish too. _And _he's dating Amy."

"Amy Thompson?" Lily asked interestedly.

"Yup."

"As delightful as this is –" said Fred.

"– we have to figure out the guest list –" James added.

"So who here has a problem with any of them coming?" the two asked, looking round at everyone.

"Nope," Roxanne was the first to answer. She hadn't spoken in a long time, and as she did so she was not looking up from where she was building a house of cards, which promptly exploded, just as she finished it.

"Settled then," James grinned. "I'll go tell mum."

Rose looked around the wide room. The furniture had been pushed back, a stereo, which Fred and James had "borrowed" from a nearby Muggle house, sat atop a free bookshelf, waiting to play music. Madison Evans, a girl the same age and slightly shorter than Hugo and Lily, had a shiny – almost coppery – shade of brown hair, which reached her shoulders, and twinkling hazel eyes, was the first (non family member) to arrive. She was greeted warmly by the family. She was an old friend, having befriended everyone as soon as she had started Hogwarts.

Lorcan and Lysander came next, followed by Nadine and then Mikayla. Rory was the last to arrive. He looked slightly apprehensive.

The New Year approached with alarming speed. Somehow, the stereo worked (as the television had) even in the magical environment, and played a mixture of Wizard and Muggle songs.

Rory actually did come out of his shell a little, and talked to them. Rose learned that he lived in Connemara during the Summer and that he had a Muggle brother as well as his sister (who was a witch).

Before they knew it, the countdown had begun:

"Ten … nine … eight … seven … six … five … four … three … two … one! Happy New Year!"

They all had a New Year's kiss, though they were on the cheek, as they were given by either friends or family members (and the only couple did not want to be the subject of teasing).

Most of them then found different places where they were going to sleep; everyone was staying until the morning.

"Happy New Year," Rose smiled to the others.

She was answered, and the four of them went to sit on a couch that somebody had not yet claimed to sleep on.

It was a New Year, and their adventure was only just beginning.

* * *

_Sorry that it's so short!_

_I've finished the whole story, so I'll try and get the rest of it up tonight. Thank you so much for the reviews, and for just reading this!_


	11. Back to Reality

_I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, I wouldn't be posting my works on a fanfiction website._

* * *

"I didn't think there'd be so many people here," said Alice, as she and Rose dragged their trunks up the staircase leading to their dormitory. Indeed, when they reached it, they saw that all of their dorm-mates were already present. Aisha was lying on her stomach on her bed, legs in the air, holding a new faux-fur cushion to her chest and reading _The Quibbler. _Her twin sat at the window where the water jug was, feverishly scribbling what seemed to be a letter. Amy was pinning up a poster.

All three girls noticed the newcomers at the same time, and a tangled assortment of greeting filled the air.

"Hi," Rose smiled, depositing her trunk at the bottom of her bed and opening it. She pinned up her own poster; an old Holyhead Harpies one, which featured two of her aunts.

She also pinned up the photo she liked to keep with her most of the time, it depicted the Gryffindor Quidditch team (and supporters who had run into the frame) from almost two years previously, after the Quidditch final. Louis was holding the cup, grinning. James and Fred had thrown their beater's bats aside, and were occupied with ruffling their sisters' hair. Albus was grinning at the camera, clutching the snitch tightly in his hand, Alice and Scorpius's arms around his shoulders, the two wearing Gryffindor scarves and rosettes, Rose standing next to them, laughing at the sight of Lily and Roxanne's indignant expressions as they tried to ward their brothers off. Molly, Lucy, and the Scamander twins were also in the frame, congratulating the team, and Victoire's finger was visible in the corner of the photograph – she had been there to see the match, and had been the one who captured the shot.

Smiling, Rose turned back to her trunk. She set the framed photo Scorpius had given her on her nightstand, along with the oak music box, which now contained another withered rose.

"Have a good Christmas?" Amy grinned at the newcomers, flopping unceremoniously onto her four-poster.

"Yeah, it was great," Rose answered, straightening her poster and then turning. "Alice's was better though." She smirked mercilessly at her – now deep red in the face – friend.

"Shut up," the embarrassed honey-blonde retorted, rummaging in her trunk (or pretending to do so) so as not to show her face, while Aisha's emerged from behind _The Quibbler._

Grins were spreading across Amy and Aisha's faces, and Samantha looked up again.

"What happened?" the latter asked curiously.

Predictably, Alice's response was only mumbles.

"Sorry?" Amy asked. "Didn't catch that."

"Nothing," Alice grumbled. "Nothing happened."

"Not buying!" Aisha teased.

"C'mon, tell us!" Samantha grinned.

"I hate you!" Alice called to Rose, as she, having finished unpacking, left the dormitory.

"I know!" Rose yelled back, laughing.

It had taken a few days, and the combined efforts of Rose, Scorpius, Lily and Roxanne, but eventually, after they'd locked Alice and Albus in the "common" room (which, contrary to popular belief, had a door – an invisible one), they had talked things out, and were now together.

The common room was almost empty, with only Scorpius and Lucy, who were playing chess to pass the time, and Lysander was sitting, lost in thought, it would appear, with Smoky curled asleep on his lap. Neither Katherine nor Albus were anywhere to be seen.

"Where's the other two?" Rose asked, flopping down on an armchair.

"Hagrid's," Scorpius answered, without looking up from the chess board.

"Katherine wanted to see the thestral foals," Lucy rolled her eyes. "Even though she can't _actually _see them."

"Al can?" Lysander asked interestedly.

"We all can," Rose answered. "We were all in around my … great-great – is it? – aunt's death bed."

"Muriel," Lucy muttered. "Secretly, we were all glad she died. She was ancient, and really annoying."

"All she used to do was insult us," Rose added.

"She's the one who used to own Victoire's tiara, wasn't it?" Scorpius asked, looking up this time.

"Yup," both Weasleys answered.

"She left it to her in her will," said Lucy. "Eldest Weasley girl and everything. It's supposed to be passed along to everyone."

"Something old, you know."

They lapsed into silence. Rose moved over to the window, and peered out.

"They're coming back, now," she told the others. Katherine was going first, almost bouncing and yapping away. Albus looked as anybody would after being in her presence for a reasonable amount of time – annoyed and exasperated. Rose laughed to herself.

Rose sat back down again, this time on a couch. It was only a few minutes later when Katherine and Albus clambered through the portrait hole. Katherine swept past them without a word, climbing the stairs leading to the girls' dormitories – passing Alice, on her way down – while Albus sat next to Rose with a sigh.

"If you weren't my best friend I'd hex you into oblivion," Alice muttered darkly, sitting between her (so-called) friend and boyfriend, and glaring at the former.

"What happened?" Lucy asked interestedly, prodding a chess piece forward.

"The others wanted to know about Alice's Christmas," Rose answered with a sweet smile.

"You're evil," Scorpius said to her.

"So are you."

He laughed.

* * *

Gryffindor tower gradually filled up as the day term would recommence drew closer. It was no longer possible to sit in an empty common room (unless it was very early or late). With a day to go before the Christmas holidays were officially over, Rose was wandering the castle.

It was almost an hour until curfew, but the halls were surprisingly empty. Rose would have heard if somebody had approached. Passing close by the steps leading the Ravenclaw common room, she heard a bang that must have been somebody knocking on the doorknocker for admittance into the tower. Rose stopped dead when she heard something else. Curious, she began to walk again, finding the source of the noise. It came from an abandoned and dark classroom, and it was the sniffling sound that accompanied crying.

She pushed the door open gently and approached the figure. When she was close enough to see (despite the dark) who it was, she stopped again.

"Jamie?"

He turned his head to face her. It was indeed Jamie. The Ravenclaw hastily wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "What are you doing here?"

"Could ask you the same question," Rose murmured, lighting her wand and sitting down next to him. "What happened?"

"None of your business," Jamie snapped, but he was too friendly a person to manage the coldness.

"I'd like to help," Rose said, undeterred. "It's not often you're like this …"

"I'd rather be alone, if you don't mind."

"I'm not going to leave," she replied coolly. "And you know I won't. Stubbornness is one of my qualities."

"You can hardly call it a quality," Jamie quipped, still wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

"I _do_ want to help," she said, smiling a little now. "If you'd let me."

"I'm being stupid, s'all," Jamie sighed. "Thanks anyway."

"I didn't do anything."

"Yes, you did," Jamie smiled at her, got to his feet and walked towards the door. His hand was on the handle when Rose looked over her shoulder and said to him, "It's Mia, isn't it?"

That stopped him in his tracks. Hand still on the door, he turned. "… if I said no, would you believe me?"

"No," Rose replied. "You should talk to her."

"And you should take your own advice," Jamie said, hand still on the door-handle.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked him, eyes slightly narrow, even though she was blushing.

"Come, on, Rose; we're not blind. We know."

"What does 'we' mean?" she asked suspiciously.

"Everyone," Jamie shrugged. "Thanks for the advice; I'll talk to Mia if you talk to Scorp."

And with a grin at the sight of how red Rose's face was, he left.

Rose had no idea how long she sat on the stone floor, hugging her knees, her it wand beside her, but when she was finally called out of her reverie, it was by Albus's anxious voice.

"Rose!" he hissed. She couldn't see him, which had to mean that he had the invisibility cloak. "Curfew was ages ago! What are you doing here?"

"How did you find me?" she asked, ignoring his question.

"James lent me the map, and the cloak," Albus replied, matter-of-factly, taking the cloak off and revealing the attendance of Alice and Scorpius.

"You've been away for ages," Alice said worriedly, sitting next to Rose. "We were worried."

"What were you doing in here?" Scorpius asked, also sounding worried.

"I'm sorry," Rose said softly. "I didn't want to worry you. I just fancied a walk, and I found Jamie in here. He was crying."

"Why?" Albus asked, brow furrowed.

"He didn't tell me," Rose murmured. It was true – she had worked it out, and she didn't think that Jamie would want everyone to know.

"Listen!" Alice hissed suddenly. They heard footsteps approaching.

They dashed under the cloak, Alice practically dragging Rose to her feet, and waited with baited breath.

Luckily, whoever the footsteps belonged to passed by without noticing them as they peered out the doorway cautiously.

With sighs of relief, they bolted back to Gryffindor tower.

* * *

"What was all that about?" Alice asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?" was Rose's automatic response.

It was lunchtime, and while the boys had gone off to changed their robes (Peeves had pelted them with paint balloons as they went to meet Alice and Rose) the girls sat on one of the ornate benches in the courtyard, waiting patiently for them.

It was not the first time that Alice had badgered Rose about running off almost a week ago, and it seemed that the determined honey-blonde was not going to give up.

"I told you what it was about," Rose sighed, with extreme patience, when Alice merely raised an eyebrow.

"That doesn't explain why you've been so distant."

"Just give it a rest for five minutes!" Rose snapped angrily, getting to her feet and storming off.

"See?" Alice yelled after her. "You're acting really weird! What's wrong?"

"Where's Rose?" Albus asked a few minutes later, when he and Scorpius arrived and they plopped down on the bench.

"Stormed off," Alice replied, taking a bite of her apple. "I don't know _what's _gotten into her."

Scorpius looked thoughtful, and then he got to his feet. "I'll go talk to her."

"Scorp!" Alice called after him, in warning tones. "She was angry; be careful!"

Scorpius just nodded and continued on his way.

He found Rose sitting on her own on the ground, where she had cleared a patch of snow with her wand, and dried the grass underneath, leaning against the war memorial stone.

"What is it with you and this stone?" Scorpius asked, sounding almost amused.

"Go away, Scorp," Rose muttered, but she was not as angry-sounding as she was when she had snapped at Alice, even though she was still furious inside. Why did they keep pushing her for answers when she made it perfectly clear that she had no intention of giving them?

Scorpius sat next to her, since the patch of grass left where she had cleared the snow was large enough, and frowned as he studied her. She glared at him.

"We are genuinely _really worried _about you," he murmured. "You've been acting weird. If you won't tell Alice, then at least tell me. We're close, right?"

Rose lowered her gaze. "I can't tell you _especially._"

"Why not?"

She didn't answer.

"Look," he said, sounding worried. "If you can tell _someone _that could help, then do, because we really want you to be back to your normal self. We care about you, you know that."

He had risen and had set off back towards the courtyard when she called after him.

"Wait!"

He turned back. "What?"

"… nothing."


	12. Easter

It was late Spring by now, but the weather was still chilly. The sun had started to shine, however weakly, again, and Easter approached.

"Rose?"

"Hmm?"

"You coming?"

Rose looked up from her book, to see that Alice, Scorpius and Albus were all wrapped up, obviously with the intention of going outside.

"Where?" she asked.

"Hagrid's," Albus replied.

"Nah; it's cold," said Rose, returning to her book.

"See you later, then," Scorpius said.

"Bye!"

Rose kept reading her book. It was one of her favourites, and she read it often.

"Rose?"

Rose looked up once more. Lucy was standing there, looking awkward. She twirled a strand of red hair around her finger, and fiddled with her glasses to give her something to do.

"What's up, Luce?" she asked concernedly. Her younger cousin sat next to her on the sofa.

She blushed. "I … I kinda like this guy …"

"Have I had 'Relationships Advice' tattooed on my forehead without me noticing?" Rose asked, half-seriously. "I've never even had a boyfriend!"

Lucy laughed. "I just look up to you. And who else went to you?"

"Jamie."

"So that's why he and Mia just got together so out of the blue?" Lucy asked, nodding a little. "Well, you must have given good advice."

Rose smiled. "I guess … who do you like, anyway?"

Lucy's answer was mumbles.

"Just whisper it to me," Rose coaxed.

Lucy sighed. "Lorcan."

"Really?" Rose asked, surprised, even though she'd seen this coming. "Well, surrounded by dense people, I'd say that – no offence – you're one of them. You can't see that he likes you too?"

Lucy smiled, and hugged her. "Thanks. And you'd think that, if you're able to pick out dense people, you'd realise that you're one of them."

With another smile, she rose and left.

* * *

Rose, Alice and Albus were sitting at a table in the common, room, doing their homework, while Scorpius watched them from the comfort of a nearby armchair, reading through a Herbology essay that Alice was still struggling to write. Rose shot glances at her friend. Alice had now given up, and was sitting, elbows propped up on the table, watching Katherine roll a ball of string along the floor for Smoky to play with.

"Want help?" Rose sighed, laying down her quill.

Alice nodded, meeting her friend's eye.

Rose stretched out her hand for Alice's essay, and read through what had already been written.

"You feeling all right today?" she asked, with a raised eyebrow, before she crumpled up the sheet of parchment. "How about you take a look at my essay, and get ideas from that?"

"Or mine?" Scorpius suggested from his armchair.

"Or both?" said Albus, in an almost bored voice, without looking up from his Transfiguration questions.

Alice smiled in thanks as she was handed both essays.

They lapsed into silence, save for the scratching of quills, and the noise the other Gryffindors made.

Then James materialised out of nowhere. He grinned as the four of them looked up at him enquiringly.

"Hey guys! Al, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure," said Albus, though he looked confused. Exchanging a look with the other three, he followed his brother.

Rose had the distinct feeling that she was missing something, as the four of them walked towards the greenhouses first thing the next morning. Albus walked next to her, and stayed silent for the whole journey, and Alice and Scorpius, walking ahead, were having a whispered discussion (or argument).

Rose heard Alice hiss defiantly, "You have to tell her!" as they joined the throng outside greenhouse three.

"What was that all about?" Rose demanded, as she swatted the Venomous Tentactula away with her shears.

"What was what all about?" Alice asked coolly.

"I'm not deaf!" Rose hissed indignantly. "You and Scorp? Arguing? You never do that; you're dead close! And what was 'you have to tell her!' about anyway?"

She fixed her friend with a glare.

"That's the whole point," Alice murmured back, out of the corner of her mouth, focusing her attention on her father as he began to address the class. "_He _has to tell you, not me."

"So I'm the 'her' you were on about?"

Alice nodded ever so slightly, just enough to be noticed.

* * *

"When did you get up?"

"Before dawn, I think," Rose replied nonchalantly, without looking up from where she sat beside the lake.

Alice sat down next to her, looking concerned.

"I'm _fine_," Rose insisted. "I couldn't sleep; that's all."

The sun was shining properly now, stronger than it had the previous day, marking the occasion of the first Hogsmeade trip since Christmas.

"Come on inside, then," said Alice, standing up again, and offering a hand to help Rose up. "You need some breakfast."

Rose allowed herself to be pulled to her feet, and followed Alice up to the castle.

"Where the hell were you two?"

"Lake," Rose muttered, heaping food onto her plate mechanically.

Alice did not elaborate for her, shooting both boys a look that meant "I'll tell you later".

After breakfast, they milled out into the Entrance Hall, having their permission slips checked and starting towards the nearby village.

"The usual, then?" Alice asked, when they were almost half-way there.

Rose nodded. It would hardly be any different, going to Honeydukes, the Three Broomsticks and Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

After they went to Honeydukes, buying Easter Eggs for themselves, they walked up the high street to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Angelina waved to them from where she leaned against the counter, talking to her children.

Rose waved back, and then wandered around the shop, picking out a couple of things to get. When she reached the counter, she found that her money was waved away again.

"Get yourself a Butterbeer instead," Angelina said.

And so Rose did, when she, Albus, Alice and Scorpius headed to the Three Broomsticks.

* * *

"Thanks for the help," Molly smiled, as Rose made to join her friends. She'd been helping her younger cousin revise for her OWLs, not having much to do over the Easter.

"You're welcome," Rose replied, smiling back over her shoulder as she crossed the common room and sat next to Albus on the sofa.

She had opted against going home for the Easter, Alice hadn't wanted to go home either, Scorpius enjoyed staying away from his father for as long as possible, and since the other three were staying, Albus did too.

They went down to lunch, and sat in the middle of the Gryffindor table, across from a group of second-years they didn't know the names of.

When they started towards Gryffindor tower again, she saw Scorpius whisper something to the other two, and then asked Rose, "Want to go for a walk?"

"All right …" she replied, a little confused. So far, he'd been uncharacteristically distant with her.

They walked down beside the lake, away from some studying seventh years.

Scorpius sighed heavily. "I have to tell you something."

"So do I," Rose murmured. "But I don't think I can."

Scorpius did not look surprised, nor did he look confused. He merely nodded, and did not press to know what she was talking about. "Remember when my mum came to Al's house, after Christmas?"

It was Rose's turn to nod.

"She wanted to talk to me about a letter I got from my father," he continued, the last two words sounding horribly bitter. "That said we were going to America after I'd finished sixth year, and there was nothing I could do about it."

"Do Al and Alice know?" Rose asked quietly, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah …"

The countless emotions that had been building up inside her finally became too much. She exploded.

"And you didn't tell me?" she demanded, her voice loud enough to cause the seventh years to abandon their study and watch her. "Was I too insignificant to tell that you were _emigrating?_ I'm just one of you're best friends, not worthy enough to know _anything?_"

She didn't know where her rage was coming from, and she knew that she should feel bad about yelling at one of her best friends, but she didn't.

"I thought you cared about me," she said in a low and menacing voice, through her tears. "Obviously I was wrong."

"It's not that I don't care," he whispered, looking sorrowful. "It's that I _do._"

"Yeah right," she hissed, turning on her heel and storming off back towards the castle.

* * *

"Rose?"

"Go away."

"Come on; talk to me."

"I said _go away._"

"You can't hide away like this," said Alice firmly.

"Funny, I think I just did," Rose snapped back.

She felt a weight on her bed that meant Alice had sat down on the bed. Rose did not turn to face her friend, and continued to glare at the photos stuck on her wall next to her Holyhead Harpies poster. She sat, hugging her knees, looking at them. Along with the post-Quidditch match photo, there were photos of her and Albus racing each other on toy broomsticks when they were both five, and pictures of her, Alice, Albus and Scorpius from first year to that photo that had been taken after Albus returned, all the time smiling.

"What happened?" Alice asked.

Rose sighed, turning at last to face Alice. "I blew up on him. I should go apologise."

"You should," Alice agreed. "He looked pretty cut up."

"But why didn't he just _tell_ me?" Rose asked.

"If you can't see why yourself, then I'm not going to tell you," said Alice. "But shouldn't we all enjoy the time we have left with Scorp, instead of screaming at him?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah. I'll go apologise, or something …"

Alice smiled that little bit, and followed as Rose headed downstairs to the common room.

* * *

_Thank you for reading_


	13. Go Ahead and Say Goodbye

The end of term was upon them. Classes and exams were over, and the students had nothing better to do than relax by the lake, chatting with friends. Some of them had broom races or even matches on the Quidditch Pitch.

Now, the grounds seemed empty. It was the last Hogsmeade trip of the school year and everyone in third year or above was gone. Where the first and second years were was anyone's guess, but, on closer examination, the grounds _weren't _empty.

Rose was half-lying on the ground in the shade of the beech tree, using her bag as a cushion and reading a book. Alice was curled up in a ball, asleep. Scorpius was sitting with his back against the trunk of the tree, staring into space. Albus was lying flat on his back, cushioning his head with his hands and watching the clouds.

None of them noticed that Alice had stirred until she murmured, "I'm going to miss this."

Scorpius appeared not to have heard her, until he sighed in agreement, "Aren't we all?"

"You don't have to go," said Rose. "You could run away or something."

"I could get mum to put you up for free," Alice smiled, sitting up.

Scorpius smiled back. "If I thought I could get away with it, I would. But besides, I actually care about my mum, and I think it'd kill her if I was in a completely different continent."

"You give up to easily," said Albus, chipping into the conversation. "I'd run away."

"Do you have to go to school when you get there?" Rose queried. "Or do you have holidays?"

"School," Scorpius replied. "But only for a couple of weeks. Apparently, I'm going to a Muggle school, and getting private tuition. The normal school's too far away from where we're staying."

"Good job you did Muggle Studies," Alice murmured.

"My father wanted to kill me for that," he reminisced, injecting the words "my father" with the usual amount of venom.

"Granddad would really confuse you if you didn't know about Muggles," said Albus.

"He was talking about how fascinating Skype was," Rose added. "It's pretty much the same thing as Floo powder; talking to somebody out of a fire."

"I remember we had two Muggle-born girls come into the Leaky Cauldron to prove to their parents that there was a pub there," Alice smiled. "They were only young; they didn't know they were witches then. I think they're in Hufflepuff now."

They lapsed into silence, Scorpius staring into space again. Rose watched him over the top of her book concernedly.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"I'm being forced to leave the country – and my friends – in a few days," he answered. "So not really."

"I wish you'd told me sooner about that," Rose murmured.

"I guess I was still in denial."

"You told Al and Alice, though."

"Actually, he didn't," Alice interjected.

"I found the letter," Albus added.

"And I found Al with the letter," Alice said.

"And none of you told me?" Rose demanded, eyes blazing dangerously.

"They seemed to think it'd be better if I told you myself," said Scorpius almost sadly.

"I'm sorry," said Rose at once. "I shouldn't have blown up on you. It's just, when you're told one of your best friends is leaving the continent …"

Scorpius laughed a little, but not unkindly. "It's okay, I get it. I found it hard to tell you. That's why I put it off, I guess."

"We'll miss you," Alice said unexpectedly.

"I know," he replied. "I'll miss you too; all of you."

"Don't get sentimental yet," Albus murmured. "We've still got another few days to enjoy."

And so they had.

"Come on; feast's about to start."

Rose looked around. Alice was standing at the doorway, an expectant look on her round-ish face.

"You go ahead," Rose told her, returning to taking the photographs from the wall behind her four-poster and putting them in her music box, which was still playing. "I'm just finishing off." She gestured needlessly to the few things still left on her bed to be packed.

"Okay," said Alice. "But don't be long." She left.

Rose pulled the two gold coins out of the beautiful designed oak box and laid them on her palm. They had a striking resemblance to real galleons. She put them in her pocket, snapped the lid shut on the music box, and put it into her trunk. She folded the few pairs of robes still lying on her bed and laid them atop the rest of the objects in her trunk. With a soft sigh, she closed the lid and went downstairs.

Alice, Albus and Scorpius were already seated when Rose arrived in the Great Hall. She spotted them easily and slid into the seat they had saved for her.

The feast seemed to pass in a few minutes, and before they knew it, they were milling into the Entrance Hall, collecting their luggage that had been brought down for them and heading outside, where the Thestral-drawn carriages were waiting for them.

They clambered into the nearest free carriage and it set off. Rose fished the fake galleons out of her pocket.

"What's with the money?" Albus asked her.

"It's not money," she retorted. "They're fake galleons; from the DA."

"Oh, I know them!" Alice said, peering more at the gold coins in Rose's hand. "Mum and dad still have them."

"Mine do too," Albus added.

"These _are _my mum and dad's," Rose murmured. She held her hand out to Scorpius. "Take one. You'll be able to get messages to us without sending poor Ollie all the way over here."

The owl hooted at the sound of his name, as Scorpius took one of the fake galleons. "Thanks."

"Can we get sentimental now?" Alice asked her boyfriend, giving him a little shove with her elbow.

He shoved her back. "Yes, you can."

"Lovely!" she grinned, getting up to sit next to Scorpius. She leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Do you have to go?" she asked him. "You really _could_ run away."

He laughed softly. "I'll miss you and your optimistic ways, honey."

"And I'll miss you too," Alice said.

"We'll all miss you," Rose murmured.

"A lot," Albus added.

"I don't want to go," Scorpius muttered. "And I'll miss you all … so much."

Alice hugged him just as the carriage came to a halt.

The climbed out of the carriage, dragging their luggage behind them. The Hogwarts Express stood waiting for them, other students boarding it. They followed the crowd, clambering onto the train and starting the task of finding a compartment, pausing when fellow Gryffindors, and some Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, came to bid Scorpius goodbye.

They finally found an empty compartment and stowed their trunks in the luggage rack. Flopping down on the seats, they struck up a conversation away from the subject of Scorpius leaving.

All four of them wished that that train journey could have lasted for much longer than it did, if not forever, but, all too soon, the train slowed to a stop at Kings' Cross.

"Keep in touch," Alice said, as she hugged Scorpius. "Or we'll send you a Howler."

"Of course I will. I'll probably end up using this a lot." He held up the fake galleon.

"Good luck in America, mate," Albus said, hugging his friend next. "Take care of yourself."

"I will. Take care of _your_self. And the girls –"

"Oi! We can take care of ourselves, thank you very much!" said two indignant voices together.

The boys laughed.

Rose hugged Scorpius tightly.

"I'll really miss you," she whispered.

"I'll really miss you too, Foxy," he whispered back, releasing her.

"We dusting off the nicknames now, or something?" Alice asked.

The other three helped Scorpius with his trunk, walking with him to where his mother stood. The three of them hugged him one last time, and Alice kissed his cheek.

Rose hugged Albus and Alice and walked over to where her mother stood, with Hugo already next to her.

"Where's dad?" she asked, after she'd hugged her mother.

"At the Ministry," Hermione replied. "He might be home by the time we are."

Rose nodded, and followed her mother and brother to the car park, with a backwards glance at Scorpius, seeing his face for what was probably the last time.

* * *

_The Last Chapter I'd written. Sorry about the tiny size_


	14. Full Circle

_- but not the last chapter. Don't own Harry Potter_

* * *

The good weather seemed to be teasing Rose, who spent most of her time with Noir, avoiding Albus, and Alice, who had arrived only a few days earlier, recruited by Albus, no doubt. They tried to get her to talk, tried to convince her that she'd be fine. She wouldn't, though.

She was hiding out in Noir's stable, yet again, grooming him. Many a time, recently, she'd cry her heart out into his mane. It made her feel better, somehow. He was always there for her, the gentle giant that would never let her down.

"Are you okay?"

Rose did not turn to face Alice, but she knew that her friend would have her elbows propped on the stable door, watching her.

"Did you think the answer would have changed?" Rose asked in answer, dragging the body brush against the curry comb with unnecessary force.

"No," Alice admitted. "But I wanted to talk to you."

"I'm listening," said Rose. "What?"

"We're having a party for Teddy and Victoire's wedding anniversary, and since it's your birthday too …"

"I'm not crashing their anniversary," Rose answered flatly. "Can't we just have the normal thing with Al the next day?"

"No," said Alice, just as flatly.

Rose sighed, now combing Noir's mane. "Fine."

"Good."

Rose could hear the satisfied smile in Alice's voice. Footsteps echoed around the stable block, telling Rose that her friend had left.

Rose was glad, in the end, that she had agreed to sharing a party with Teddy and Victoire. Dominique flew back in from France for the double occasion, and she had agreed to stay for a few weeks.

Rose collected her presents, thanked her family, and snuck off over to the paddock, which was empty.

"Come to drag me back to the party?" Rose raised her eyebrows, when Alice and Albus came up to her.

"No," said Albus.

"Toasts are boring," Alice explained.

They stayed there; leaning against the fence, until darkness had fallen, and the lamps that had been floating overhead had been lit.

When they crossed the garden to sit on the stone wall, Rose was stopped. The other two, in the semi-darkness, didn't notice.

"Meet me in the stable block at half eleven," Victoire hissed.

"Okay," Rose replied, confused, and then went back to the other two.

"I'll be back in a minute," Rose murmured to the others, when half eleven came around.

She proceeded to the barn, looking around for Victoire. She was leaning against the door of Noir's stable, stroking the handsome horse.

"Happy birthday," she said, as Rose stood next to her.

"Thanks. Happy anniversary."

"I want you to have him," murmured Victoire unexpectedly.

"What? Noir? I couldn't!"

Victoire smiled at her. "I don't need him anymore; he needs someone who'll take care of him properly."

"You do –" Rose protested.

"I don't have any time for him anymore," said Victoire sadly. "And I know you love him, and vice-versa. Take him."

"Are you sure?" Rose asked, baffled.

"Positive."

And with a mysterious smile, Victoire left.

Rose drew back the bolt on the stable door, and slid in, closing it again. Noir nuzzled her shoulder, perhaps knowing, as she stroked his neck.

"A minute, huh?"

Rose looked around to see Alice and Albus leaning against the stable door, elbows propped on it, with identical knowing smirks on their faces.

"Victoire gave him to me," Rose explained. "I'm allowed to be happy."

Albus nodded. "Well, if you'd been outside, you'd have known that something else happened."

"Which, incidentally, also involves a black horse," Alice chipped in.

"And would most undoubtedly make you even happier," Albus concluded.

Still smirking knowingly, they stood back to let Rose unbolt the stable door and demand to know what it was that they were talking about.

"See for yourself," Alice said, directing Rose to the garden.

Everybody had gone inside, it seemed, save for Rose, Alice and Albus. The lanterns were burning themselves out, and in the dim light, Rose could see that there _was _a horse, tethered to the paddock fence. A figure stood next to the oak tee.

Rose moved closer, wondering who stood under the shade of the tree, though the way that her stomach had performed a perfect somersault told her enough in itself.

When she reached her friend, she hugged him with absolutely no hesitation.

"I thought you were meant to be in America," she said, after releasing him.

"Didn't really like it there," said Scorpius airily. "My roommate was a little cut up, but he understood. Gave me his guitar and everything; he taught me how to play it. Mum arranged a portkey for me, and," he raised his arms and let them fall again, "here I am."

"Why are you really here?" Rose asked, eyes narrowing just that little bit.

Silence.

And then he kissed her, ever so gently.

"… does that answer your question?"

"A thousand times over."

"Finally!"

"I'm going to kill you, Alice!" Rose shouted, without any conviction.

All four of them burst out laughing.

* * *

"Come on," Alice said, from the doorway.

"Once sec," Rose called back. She applied a little lipgloss, and came to meet her friend. They were both wearing comfortable jeans, and shirts. It was a lovely summer evening, and they were having a bonfire (a miniature one, anyway) in the garden.

They went outside, and joined the circle surrounding the bonfire. James and Fred were cooking sausages for them. Rose was a little wary about accepting one, but it transpired that there was nothing to worry about, and they were normal.

They chatted, and laughed, and Lily sang segments of well-known songs that they joined in, Scorpius even getting his new guitar and strumming notes for them.

The summer had only just begun, and they had so much ahead of them. Another crazy year. The horses watched interestedly from the paddock close by, and Lily moved over to stroke their noses. Rose, though she hadn't forgotten (she couldn't have), was hit again by the realisation that Noir was _hers._ She couldn't wait to ride him out. Maybe she could get her friends to go with her.

The light was dying, and most of them had gone in, but there was still a fair crowd outside; Rose, Scorpius, Alice, Albus, Lily, Roxanne, Lorcan, Lucy, Lysander, Fred and James. They sat in a closer circle around what was left of the fire, eating marshmallows. Scorpius was messing around with the guitar. He started to strum the acoustic version of a song they all knew, despite how old it was, and Fred and James started to beatbox to it (something they were actually very good at). Without realising it, all the rest of them started to sing along.

_A place to crash_

_I got you_

_No need to ask_

_I got you_

_Just get on the phone_

_I got you_

_Come and pick you up if I have to_

_What's weird about it_

_Is we're right at the end_

_Ain't mad about it_

_Just figured it out in my head_

_I'm proud to say_

"_I got you"_

They let Lily take up the chorus, providing backing for her.

_Go ahead and say goodbye_

_I'll be alright_

_Go ahead and make me cry_

_I'll be alright_

_And when you need a place_

_To run to_

_For better or worse_

_I got you_

They rejoined Lily for the next verse.

_Ain't falling apart_

_Or bitter_

_Let's be bigger than that_

_And remember_

_That pulling out don't mean you're all alone_

_We'll both survive it_

_No drama_

_No need for a show_

_Just wanna say_

"_I got you"_

_Go ahead and say goodbye_

_I'll be alright_

_Go ahead and make me cry_

_I'll be alright_

_And when you need a place_

_To run to_

_For better or worse_

_I got you_

_Go ahead and say goodbye_

_I'll be alright_

_Go ahead and make me cry_

_I'll be alright_

_And when you need a place_

_To run to_

_For better or worse_

_I got you_

All of the girls sang.

_Cuz this is love and life_

_And nothing we can both control_

_And if it don't feel right_

_You're not losing me by letting me know_

They all sang together.

_Go ahead and say goodbye_

_I'll be alright_

_Go ahead and make me cry_

_I'll be alright_

_And when you need a place_

_To run to_

_For better or worse_

_I got you_

_Go ahead and say goodbye_

_I'll be alright_

_Go ahead and make me cry_

_I'll be alright_

_And when you need a place_

_To run to_

_For better or worse_

_I got you_

_A place to crash_

_I got you_

_No need to ask_

_Got you_

They smiled around at each other, having heard the conviction in their voices. No matter what; they'd be there for each other.

Forever and always.

* * *

_Thank you to everyone who's read, reviewed and favourited. It's the first multi-chapter story I've had the patience and determination to finish._

_I think I'll always have happy endings in stories. I'm like that.  
_

_Song is I Got You by Leona Lewis. Lyrics are from Echo's album cover, so they should be accurate.  
_


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